Where My Heart Lies
by marauderX
Summary: Ducibus. Luculentus. Puritas. Ater Sanguis. The four secret societies of Hogwarts. Only a select few are asked to join, and sixth year Abigail Prescott is stunned when she receives requests from all four. But when Abby's best mate Albus joins the society she believes is truly dangerous, Abby is forced to determine where her heart lies: with Albus, or her society?
1. The Masquerade Ball

I spun around, the red dress I had on fanning out and fluttering around my ankles. I stopped with a giggle and faced my friends Melody Marchand, Deidra Morrow, Kara Prince, and Wendy Yu who were sitting on a bed.

Melody, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, had opted for a blue dress that hugged her tight up until the knee where it flared out expertly.

Deidra had on a black ball gown that sparkled every time she moved, mirroring her black hair and emphasising her ice blue eyes.

Kara had put on a dark green dress that, in all honesty, was not very modest, but she pulled it off expertly what with her dark skin, hair, and eyes.

With black hair and brown eyes, Wendy looked extremely joyful in a yellow dress that mirrored the Chinese style, homage to her Asiatic heritage.

As I flopped down next to them, I sighed dramatically.

"Can you believe it's already Halloween?" I asked, lying back and covering my face with my hands. "It feels like only yesterday we got sorted into Gryffindor and here we are now, getting ready for the Masquerade Ball!"

Kara nodded, lying back as I had done. "I know. It's kind of surreal. I mean, we've finally made it to sixth year. We can finally be part of the masquerade part of the Masquerade Ball."

The Masquerade Ball was something Hogwarts held every year on Halloween since before I was born. Fourth year and up were allowed to attend, but only sixth and seventh years actually got masks. While it didn't seem like much, the masks were a very important part of the rest of the evening.

Or so I've been told. As it's my first year masquerading, I honestly had no idea what was in store. Older students wouldn't tell us and teachers had no idea. Add in the fact that sixth years had no idea what their masks would be, it was a real curiosity builder.

"So Abby," Deidra said, getting off the bed and walking over to the mirror hanging beside the bathroom door, "has Riley told you anything about the masks?"

I sighed dreamily. "No, the prat keeps saying that 'you need to be patient.' Prat."

"You've said that," Wendy mused, turning and smirking at me.

"Well yeah, he's a prat."

"Careful Abby," Melody chided, "if you say that in front of him you might be sans boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes but the thought of Riley kept the smile on my face. Riley Jordan was my boyfriend. As in, the Riley Jordan who's not only a year older but one of the most popular boys in seventh year and known as the epitome of tall dark and handsome. He was almost like a male version of Kara, although he had a much less explicit vocabulary.

How I ever got so lucky was beyond me. He had asked me out in my fourth year, his fifth. We had been dating for about a year and a half before we broke up. And before you ask, it was a mutual and amicable break up. That was this past April. Around two weeks later, we talked about it and tried to 'reconnect' as he put it. Something just clicked again and we had been back together for just over four months now.

"Oh, stop thinking about him you minger!" Melody said, chucking a compact mirror at me.

It clipped me in the forehead and I cried out, more in surprise than in pain, as I heard the compact hit the ground and shatter.

"Oi! Why'd you do that?" I said testily. She had hit me in the forehead with a compact mirror after all.

But Melody just smirked. "Because you were thinking about Riley when you should have been getting ready!"

"Now how do you know I was thinking about Riley?"

"Because you had a dopey grin on your face."

"I don't grin dopily when I think about Riley!" I cried.

"Um, yeah you do," Deidra interrupted, snorting as she applied mascara to her lashes. "I don't know how you suppress it when you're with him, but whenever he's not around and you do it, you look like a bloody idiot."

I grumbled. "Why does it matter? So I like him. I may or may not grin dopily when I think about him. He's my boyfriend. I'm allowed to do so!"

Melody cursed under her breath and stood up so that she could look down at me. "Abigail Prescott, we have exactly 16 minutes and 47 seconds until we're supposed to be down to the Great Hall. All you have on is mascara and you don't even have your hair done!"

"So?" I asked, flipping her off. "I'm in a dress, I'll be wearing heels, I'm wearing a strapless bra, thank you very much. I think I'm good enough for this Masquerade Ball."

Kara looked over at me and rolled her eyes. "You are not going to the Masquerade Ball with your hair in a ponytail. And let us put some eyeliner on you, at the very least."

I pursed my lips. "I'll say yes to the eyeliner on one condition: don't you dare poke me in the eye with it!"

Kara, Deidra, and Melody all responded with a chorus of yeses, while Wendy just looked bored. Out of the five of us, she and I were the ones who always decided to forego waking up a few minutes earlier to put on makeup. Although, her reason was not wearing any make up whatsoever whereas I was just a lazy bint.

"But," I said, interrupting their exclamations of joy and emphasizing the 'but' with a harsh glance at each of them in turn, "you are not doing my hair."

****************

They did my hair. After Melody was finished with my eyeliner, Kara had asked for me to help her buckle her heels as the dress she was wearing made it difficult. As I had gone on one knee to do so, Deidra had petrified me with a wave of her wand (her non-verbal spells are simply brilliant) and then they had tied me in a chair. When they finally un-petrified me, I had said quite a few choice curse words but the damage had been done.

My hair elastic lay on the floor, sad and lonely, and my hair was in ringlets.

It's not that I didn't like it when my hair was out of a ponytail, it's just that having such long hair got in the way when I was playing Quidditch or writing notes in class. Also, I was too lazy to take the time to actually do my hair up nice. But they had attacked me with heated wands to curl my long brown strands and, to be completely honest, I didn't look half bad.

After the crazy attack on me, the girls had all taken photos so as to 'remember the time she put her hair down.' Bloody bints, the lot of them. So now we were walking down the stairs that led from the girls' dormitories into the Gryffindor common room. I was having a little trouble maneuvering with the heels, but it was manageable. Wendy looked like she about to fall flat on her face at any moment, poor dear. As I finally reached the bottom step, I looked up and my brown eyes met his green ones. My heart fluttered and my stomach turned. The only problem was…

It wasn't Riley.

"Holy hell," Albus Potter exclaimed as he caught sight of me. "Your hair is down."

I frowned. Not only was I wearing a dress, something I didn't often do even though the Hogwarts uniform for girls included a skirt, but I was wearing high heels and eyeliner. Why did he only notice the hair? Then I chided myself for caring about what Albus thought. Riley was my boyfriend. I had been with Riley for the past two years, save about two weeks.

But when Albus's green eyes traveled over me, I couldn't help but feel my pulse race. It had been like this ever since tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in third year. James Potter, Albus's older brother, was Captain of the team at the time, and had asked me to join the tryouts as a keeper seeing as there was an uneven number. I agreed only because I was promised infinitesimal amounts of gratitude – something I was going to cash in soon considering James is now on the Tutshill Tornadoes Quidditch team and gets box seats for friends and family to all their matches, and they were bound to play the Holyhead Harpies sometime this season

During the try-out, I had time to ponder what everything I had been feeling previous to that meant; why my stomach turned whenever I caught Albus looking at me, why my pulse raced when he brushed against me, why I loved the sound of his laugh so much. And, right in the middle of tryouts, I realized I fancied my best mate. That was quite a shocker. I was just glad the chaser who was put up against me had a really shit aim because they completely missed the hoops and that 'save' got me a spot on the team.

That grenade had really done a number on me… But now, with Albus staring at me like he'd never seen me before, I felt all the old emotions I had for him come bubbling up again. Okay, so they might not have been old, per say, but definitely suppressed. I felt myself blush as Albus's eyes traveled down and then up my body.

"Albus!" I cried and flung myself into his arms, more in an attempt to cover up the fact that he had made me blush rather than anything else. "I haven't seen you since this morning! You look so dapper!"

I pulled away to give him a proper look over. He did indeed look dapper. He had on dress robes I knew to be his father's old dress robes – his mum never let anything go to waste even though they were almost as rich as the Queen of England.

But even though the dress robes were quite old, the almost non-existent use of them made them seem brand new, and Ginny Potter's skill with a needle and thread (or more appropriately, her skill to charm a needle and thread) made the robes fit his thin frame perfectly. He looked mighty fit. And with his hands still on my waist and my hands on his shoulders, I could feel my pulse racing as I looked into his beautiful eyes.

"You don't look so bad yourself," he said chuckling.

I felt my cheeks redden further and stepped away, letting my arms drop from his shoulders. He ran a hand through his messy hair and readjusted his glasses. It was then that I realized that Timothy Finnegan, Jacob Harbringer, and Evan Phillips, Albus's dorm mates, were standing behind him, eyeing us as well. His last dorm mate, Archer West, was staring at something behind me. I looked back to see Kara blush noticeably. I always knew she had a penchant for Archer.

"So, are you ready to get this show on the road?" Jacob said, stepping forward and fidgeting in his own dress robes.

They bore a striking resemblance to Albus's, as did the rest of the boys. I had a strange feeling that perhaps they had duplicated the robes with a spell.

"Are you all going stag, then?" I asked, looking between the girls and the boys for confirmation.

Kara's smile said it all.

"I'm going with Kara," Archer said gruffly and I saw a hint of blush on his cheeks as well, "Jacob's bringing Wendy, Timothy asked Deidra, and Evan asked Melody."

I looked at Albus, a quizzical look on my face. "Are you the lone wolf tonight?"

He nodded sheepishly and opened his mouth to respond but he was cut off.

"Bless my soul, that girl in the red dress is gorgeous. Hey, Matthew, do you think she'd go to the Masquerade Ball with me?"

I turned, my heart beating quicker as Riley's voice threaded through the air. He was leaning on a wall, one foot on the common room floor, the other on the steps leading to the boys' dormitory. I felt my stomach quiver as his deep brown eyes met mine.

"Hey, Albus," I said jokingly, my voice loud enough to be heard anywhere in the common room, "that fit bloke over there, the one leaning against the wall, do you think he'd ask me to the Masquerade Ball?"

Riley smiled and made his way over to me. I noticed a colourful mask dangling from his clenched fist and couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as I remembered that he had already been through this. He already had his mask. A foolish thought, I know, but I hated not knowing what I was in for. He reached me and offered me his hand which I promptly took.

"Abby, you look stunning, as always," he said, winking and bringing my hand up to his lips to gently kiss."

I blushed. "Oi! You shut it, mister. Let's just get down to the Great Hall shall we? I heard there was apple cider there."

"That's my girl," he chuckled fondly. "Always thinking of her stomach instead of her boyfriend."

I pursed my lips. "Fine. You look rather nice tonight, like always." I grinned at him as he threaded his arm around my waist and pressed his lips to mine. "I'm glad I agreed to go to the Masquerade Ball with you."

"I'm glad you accepted," he said before turning back to his mates. "Oi, I'll see you later, right? I'm going to take Abby down now."

His friends nodded, shooting me smiles of their own before Riley pulled me out of the common room, away from my friends. I was giddy and almost fell down one of the staircases as we walked down, only staying upright because Riley caught me by the waist. Then he proceeded to snog the living daylights out of me, so I wasn't all that mad that I had agreed to wear the monster heels.

By the time we finally got to the Great Hall, I was certain my lips were chapped and my feet were blistered. A large table was set up off to the right of the entrance where I saw one of the Slytherin sixth years talking to a seventh year. But before I could walk over, Riley pulled me off to the side and put his hands on either side of his face.

"Abby, there are some things that are going to happen tonight. People who've never talked to you are suddenly going to chat you up. I need you–"

"To not let it happen," I finished. "I've got the drill. Don't accept drinks from anyone, even you, unless they're unopened or I saw them being poured. Blah blah blah. My mother gives me this speech every year before I come back here." I paused, grabbing one of his wrists, my thumb feathering the edge of my jaw. "I wonder why. It's not as if this is some club. It's Hogwarts!"

Riley rolled his eyes and simply raised an eyebrow at me, silently telling me to shut it. "That's not what I was going to say. You're going to need to chat these people up. Subtly tell them your best qualities, your major achievements, where you see yourself in five years."

"So basically," I said, frowning, "it's like an interview. That's a weird thing to have at a Masquerade Ball."

Riley smirked and pulled me in for a kiss. "Yes, it is. Now let's get your mask. Hopefully it matches your dress."

I smiled and let him drag me along, stopping at the table where the seventh year sat. Riley smiled at the girl but she kept her eyes trained on me. I was about half certain she was a Hufflepuff, but I couldn't be certain. The one thing I did notice was that her mask was as colourful as a rainbow.

"Name?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Abby?" I answered questioningly.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Full name."

Oh. Right. "Abigail Prescott."

She rolled her eyes again and turned in her chair. Reaching behind her, she pulled out a deep red mask that matched my dress perfectly.

"Thanks!" I said enthusiastically, taking it from her.

She rolled her eyes again and glanced over at Riley for a moment. She seemed to do a double take at the sight of him and if she had been drinking a glass of water, she probably would've spit it out.

"Hold on. You're Abigail Prescott?" She asked, her eyes wide.

I looked over at Riley. "Unless I've suddenly transfigured myself into a bear or my mother's been lying to me about the name on my birth certificate, I think it's safe to assume I am."

The girl stood up from behind the table and stuck her hand out. "Merisa Clearwater. Seventh year Hufflepuff."

I took her hand and shook it almost experimentally, scared she might tear it off me. "Hi."

She let go of my hand but latched onto my arm and started guiding me towards the entrance to the Great Hall. I looked back at Riley a little terrified but he was grinning.

"Oh, almost forgot!" The girl piped up, spinning to face my abandoned boyfriend. "Riley, be a dear and manage the mask table. I'll have Emerson come out in five so you can rejoin the party."

He nodded and then looked at me. "Chat her up," he mouthed and I nodded somewhat hesitantly.

Just as we were about to enter the Great Hall, Merisa glance over at me again and sighed dramatically. "Put your mask on!" she ordered.

I quickly did as I was told and she gave me a smile under her own one.

"Ready?" she asked giddily.

I glance over my shoulder at Riley but he seemed completely unfazed by this turn of events and was now sitting in Merisa's vacated chair, his feet on the table. He was staring at me and as our gazes crossed, he smirked and gave me a thumbs up.

"As I'll ever be."

***************

The Masquerade Ball was in full swing, lights pulsating and music vibrating the floors. I was dancing – well, more like jumping – with Kara, Deidra and Melody. Wendy was at one of the round tables near the edges with the boys, probably complaining about heels. Honestly! At least Riley wasn't as big a wet blanket as those six were.

As promised, Merisa had caught up to Emerson, another seventh year Hufflepuff, and within a minute of Emerson's departure from the ball, Riley had appeared at my side. Merisa had been glued to me for the better part of an hour before Emerson had reappeared and whispered something in her ear. I'm not going to explicitly state that I wasn't very fond of the girl but… oh hell. She was flipping annoying!

Always talking about how classes were for me, how much time I actually spent studying versus how much time I spent in class, how many hours a week I practiced Quidditch. And boy was she interested to hear the entire story of how I managed to coach Albus up to Gryffindor chaser status, earning myself a spot on the team as well. Merlin! After she left, I saw her talking to Rose as well and thought it best not to interrupt them so that she couldn't latch back onto me.

Of course, Rose was furious that I abandoned her in her time of need and resorted to cursing at me under her breath after she herself escaped Merisa's obsessive claws. Luckily, another seventh year had come to talk to us, a Ravenclaw named Steveson, or 'just-call-me-Steve.' He and Rose had been talking non-stop about classes, potential NEWT subjects for her so that she could become a politician and potentially the Minister for Magic in a few years' time.

"And how are you doing this evening…"

"Abby," I told him, smiling at him from over my glass of punch.

He seemed to do a double-take before finally spitting out, "Abby as in Abigail Prescott?" I nodded hesitantly. "Sorry," he continued, sticking out his hand for me to shake, "I would have recognized you except that–"

"I'm wearing a mask?" I guessed, raising an eyebrow. Clearly not the brightest Ravenclaw of the bunch. "Yeah, makes sense considering it's a Masquerade Ball."

Rose shot me a look through her green mask and not-so-subtly stepped on my foot with the ball of her shoe. I winced and she began to smirk.

"Yes, well," just-call-me-Steve said, a little bit flustered. "So I've heard you do well in classes."

There was a long pause before I glanced at just-call-me-Steve and then Rose, noticing they were looking at me expectantly. I coughed, the punch I had in my mouth going down the wrong pipe and making me spit it back out into my cup. Honestly, I had never seen someone so flabbergasted as just-call-me-Steve was in that moment.

"Was that a question?" I asked as I threw out my cup in a nearby waste bin, the punch inside it all but forgotten. He nodded, his look of disgust not going away. "Um, well I'm probably average, I would say. Nothing really remotely special about me."

Rose frowned. "That's not true! I know for a fact you're one of the top students in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and you hardly apply yourself in that class."

Just-call-me-Steve seemed to perk up at that. "Defense Against the Dark Arts? Very nice. What are your other good subjects? Or are you average in everything else?"

Before I had the chance to answer, Rose grabbed my arm and squeezed, silencing me.

"She really good at Potions, too. Not as good as she is in Defense Against the Arts, but Professor Mason absolutely adores her!" she said, glancing at me as if to 'keep talking.'

"Oh yeah! I'm not rubbish in Potions at all. I love it."

Apparently I was unconvincing as just-call-me-Steve only raised an eyebrow, looking as if the very thought of continuing this conversation was maddening. Suddenly, a hand brushed against my arm and I looked over to see Albus.

"Al!" I cried, silently telling him to drag me away from this boring toad. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled. "I heard you guys talking about how rubbish you are at everything," he joked, greeting Rose with a smile. "I mean, you are so rubbish at everything, you were actually the first in our Potions class to finish an 'acceptable' Draught of Living Death, not to mention you were the first to master a corporeal patronus when my dad tried to teach us last year."

Just-call-me-Steve's eyes widened and he looked at me. "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Albus said, nodding. "Not to mention the fact that she actually spent a whole three months in France when she was six and now speaks French fluently. And her parents are journalists for the Daily Prophet and her articles are possibly better than theirs on a good day, exceedingly amazing on a great day."

I felt my cheeks redden. "Albus, it's not all that amazing. It's just writing! Anyways, I'm sure it's not as good as anything my parents write."

"Now, who exactly are your parents?" just-call-me-Steve asked.

I sighed. "Michelle and Marcus Prescott."

I winced as just-call-me-Steve's eyes widened like saucers.

"I should have known!" he cried. "Oh Merlin! I have clippings of all your dad's articles. He's my idol!"

I grimaced, a little scared at his enthusiasm. "Well, if you want, I could always see if you could meet him if it means so much to you."

I swear to Merlin, I think I may have given him a heart attack. Rose looked over at me horror-stricken as just-call-me-Steve began to hyperventilate.

"Do you… do you… do you think… I could get a… get an internship?" he asked, his breathing quickening.

I panicked, unsure of what to say. "Um, I don't know, you'll have to ask him, yeah?" I looked over at Rose and Albus but they both shrugged. "Okay, I have to go… do theoretical maths. I'll be back later!"

With that, I turned and walked away, searching the crowd of students with my eyes. Unable to find Riley, I sighed and made my way to one of the round tables lining the outskirts of the Great Hall. Sitting down in one of the chairs, I grabbed a napkin and folded it, fanning myself with it. Just about as I was about to get up to go grab another glass of punch – sadly remembering my debacle with swallowing it earlier – I was interrupted as a blonde girl in a colourful mask sat down beside me.

"Bloody hot in here, isn't it?" she asked, mimicking my napkin fan in an attempt to cool herself off. "Freaking sauna! Hogwarts really should have ventilation. Or at least a brilliant enough professor who could charm this place not to conserve the body heat of everyone in this room." She looked over at me and smiled. "I'm Grace. And you are?"

"Abby," I said, waiting for the realization, the eyes widening, the sudden double-take.

But it never happened.

"Pleased to meet you Abby," she said delightedly. "I adore your dress by the way. Really top-notch!"

I glanced down at the red fabric clinging to my skin and felt a strange sense of pride. "Thanks! I like yours too!"

And it was true. Her dress was white, but it had some sort of crystals on it that reflected light and made it seem like a veritable rainbow. It really bounced off her blonde hair and offset her blue eyes, making her seem like the most colourful person in the room. The vibrant mask didn't help to tone it down either.

"That's a very pretty necklace, Abby," she said, looking at the pendant that was displayed on the bare skin of my chest.

The scoop neck of the dress had been perfect for this exact necklace, a tiny silver heart on a silver chain. It rested easily just under the bones at the base of my neck.

"What does it say?" she asked, squinting through her mask.

I unclipped it easily and passed it to her so she could look at it better. "'Sang Noir.' It means 'Black Blood' in French."

She seemed to be examining the pendant, staring at the words extensively. "Do you come from France, then?"

I laughed. "No, my grandmother does; it's her necklace. She got it during the First Wizarding War. She's a muggleborn, you see. I thought it was a bloody horrible inscription at first, but I've come to see that she's wearing her muggleborn status on her sleeve, not ashamed of it." I suddenly laughed, remembering a conversation we once had. "She once told me, 'Abby, I wore that when the Death Eaters raided the café your grandfather and I was at. The ruddy idiots were so stupid, I told them it spelt I love you and they believed it.'"

"She's foolish to have worn it in such times," Grace said, pursing her lips.

I shrugged. "I thought so too, but she said it wasn't just some necklace, but a part of something bigger. Something dedicated to keeping the peace between muggleborns and purebloods," I said. "Never really understood that part."

Grace just nodded, her lips tightly smashed together. "I have to go," she quipped, standing up and leaving me at the table, completely surprised at her sudden departure.

But before I could do anything like go after her, Riley took her vacated seat and smiled at me. "Having a good night?" he asked, taking one of my hands.

"It's been strange," I conceded, squeezing his hand.

He reached up and touched my cheek, leaning in towards me while simultaneously lifting the red mask I had on, and his own colourful one. His lips on mine were strong yet soft and I melted into them.

"How about now?"

I smirked and shuffled my chair closer to his, engaging him in yet another kiss. "Much better."


	2. The Four Envelopes

I woke up to find Melody's face inches from mine. I screamed and scrambled away from her, which only resulted in me falling off the bed.

"Bloody hell, Melody!" I shrieked. "What was that for?"

She quickly shushed me and beckoned me back onto my bed. I stood up slowly, rubbing my neck. Sitting on the bed and scowling at her, I flipped her off and she did it right back.

"Right," I whispered as she kept a finger to her lips. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

She shook her head. "Did you get any?"

I gave her a look. "What?"

"I probably shouldn't even be saying this, but _did you get any_?"

"Get any what?" I asked, staring at her as if she belonged in St. Mungo's.

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Forget I said anything."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Well I can't anymore! Did I get any what?"

She bugged out her eyes, got off my bed, and walked straight into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I stared after her, completely confused. She was loony, that one, I'm telling you. Falling back on my bed, I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. Sunlight was streaming in through the window and I was the unlucky girl whose bed was right in its path. Sighing as I heard the shower come on, I glared at the bathroom door.

Stupid Melody, waking me up super early. Why couldn't she just let me sleep in on Saturday like a good friend would? I grumbled and got out of my bed, reaching into my bedside table for my book. If I couldn't go to sleep, I damn well would go get something to eat, but with all of my dorm mates either sleeping (grumble) or in the shower (double grumbling), I wasn't going to just sit there without any form of entertainment. But instead of my hand meeting the hard cover of my book, I just felt a large envelope.

And then another. And another, and another. Curious, I slammed my drawer open and stared open-mouthed at the four very official looking letters on top of my book. Grabbing them I saw no insignia, marking, letter, or anything that would tell me what it was about. I opened the first one, ripping through the envelope quickly and yanking the folded parchment inside out as fast as I could.

" _Ms. Abigail Prescott_ ," it read, " _we would like to take this chance to offer you a spot in the_ Ducibus _society initiation ceremony. We will be in direct contact with you shortly for further information. Destroy this letter upon reading. Do not divulge anything about this letter to anyone or face the consequences._ "

The only other thing apart from those few lines on the parchment was a curlicue D at the bottom, seemingly stamped on in a strangely coloured ink. When I turned the parchment certain ways, the ink would either look green, yellow, blue, or red. Shrugging, I moved to the next one.

" _Ms. Abigail Prescott_ , _the_ Luculentus _society would like to offer you a spot in our initiation ceremony. Be vigilant as we will be in contact soon. Destroy this letter upon reading. Do not divulge anything about this letter to anyone or face the consequences._ "

While the overall message was the same as the ' _Ducibus_ ' letter, this one had different sentences to start and an curlicue L instead of a D, yet the last two lines were the same. Picking up the next one, I ripped it open and began reading.

" _Ms. Abigail Prescott, the honorable_ Puritas _society requests your presence during our initiation ceremony. We will be seeing you shortly. Destroy this letter upon reading. Do not divulge anything about this letter to anyone or face the consequences._ "

 _Well_ , I thought harshly, _this letter certainly is forceful._

But again, other than the first few sentences and the letter at the bottom (this one was a P), the letter was not much different from the other two. As I picked up the last letter, I saw something that caught my eye. In the corner of the envelope, in script so tiny I could barely read it, someone had scrawled ' _Sang Noir_.' I felt my heart stop and I looked over at my bedside table where my locket from the night before was resting. I leaned over and grabbed it, comparing the two scripts. They were the exact same. I felt my blood run cold and I all but shredded the envelope in an attempt to get to the parchment inside. My hands shaking, I unfolded the parchment and began to read.

" _Ms. Abigail Prescott_ ," – well at least that was the same as the others – " _as the notable and honorable society of_ Ater Sanguis _requests your presence during their initiation, we would be delighted if you accepted this request. We will be in touch shortly. Promptly destroy this letter after reading and tell no one we have been in contact with you. You are being watched._ "

I felt my heart beat pick up and start racing. What was with these so called societies, and what was their initiation? Why were they going to contact with me? _How_ were they going to contact me? Why me? I felt my head spin and I lay back, letting the letters fall back on my bed. Pressing my fingers to my temples, I felt my stomach turn. What was this? Some kind of sick joke? I heard the shower turn off and immediately bolted upright, scrambling to get all the envelopes and letters back into my drawer. Almost as soon as I shut it, Melody burst out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped firmly around her body.

"So did you get any?" she asked, freezing on the spot as she saw my hand on the drawer.

I tensed up. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," I said in a stiff voice.

Melody understood and nodded slowly. "That's good. I always hate when the boys leave _unexploded dung bombs_ in our trunks."

She gave me a knowing look and I nodded. She had gotten at least one letter. One offer. And she knew that even talking about it like this amongst ourselves might bring us to 'face the consequences' as the letters so eloquently stated.

As Melody got dressed after pulling her curtains, I slowly got out of bed and got dressed myself, tugging on faded jeans, a white t-shirt, a tan (fake) leather jacket, and gorgeous tan boots. Grabbing my hairbrush from my trunk, I stepped out from behind my curtains and walked over to the mirror hanging near the bathroom, running the hairbrush through my thick mane. It was shiny as ever and thank Merlin I had taken a shower after we had gotten back from the Masquerade Ball because it was only slightly curly now.

I grabbed my ponytail and (as Melody glared at me), put my hair up. Sticking my tongue out at her as she rolled her eyes as me, I walked out the dormitory door. As I heard her yelling after me about her waiting for the others, I bounced into the common room and felt my stomach turn as I saw the usual messy black hair of my best mate.

"Al!" I cried and jumped on him.

Thankfully, he had been lying on the couch. Unthankfully, he had been sleeping and, I know this from experience, you never, _never_ wake a sleeping Albus Potter. Almost as soon as I hit him, he woke with a start and started grappling with me, finally flipping me over so that my back was against the couch cushion and he was kneeling over top of me.

"Hey Al," I said brightly. "What's up?"

He smirked and got off the couch, and me, in the process. "You know never to wake me, Abby."

I grinned and sat up. "I didn't know you were asleep. Otherwise, Ninja Attack would have been postponed. Anyways, what are you doing sleeping on the couch?"

"Had to talk to James," he explained, gesturing towards the fire. "He's been a little stressed ever since the Tornadoes signed him. He asked if we could talk alone so I suggested the fireplace at around one in the morning."

I nodded. "Makes sense. So is he doing well? Tornadoes treating him okay?"

"I think so." Albus nodded himself and shoved his hands in his dress robes' pockets. "He said it was good just to relax and talk to me like we used to. I think he misses Hogwarts and the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"That's too bad. Did he say when his first match is though? And who they're playing against?" I prodded, leaning back into the couch.

"Nah. He doesn't know yet. I doubt it'll be against the Harpies though. They're on that retreat, remember? No contact with the outside world for a month?"

I frowned as he reminded me of that. "Bloody new captain! Who does she think she is? Only Gwenog Jones could pull that off!"

Albus smiled as I continued my mutterings and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm starving. Shall we go down to breakfast?"

I eyed his clothing before looking back up at him, a skeptical look on my face. "You're still in your dress robes."

He looked down and looked startled at that fact. Looking back up at me, he smiled sheepishly.

"Wait for me while I go get changed?" he asked.

I smiled. "Go. Quickly though, because I can hear the waffles calling my name!"

He smiled back and raced away and up the boys' stairs. I sighed and closed my eyes, putting my head back for a moment. This society business was really hitting me hard. I would just try and get through the day without severely messing up and telling someone everything. As I heard footsteps coming down from the boys' stairs, I stood up and straightened my clothes.

"You changed quickly Albus," I said, turning around. "Normally it takes you – you're not Albus."

Riley smiled and walked over to me. "No, I'm pretty sure I'm not. You hanging out with Al at breakfast today then?"

I nodded. "Yeah, as soon as he gets down here. So, you are free of the ball and chain that is me. Have fun with your own mates."

"But I can't kiss my mates!" he whined, smirking at me. "And that is probably the best part of my day."

I laughed and reached out to grab his collar and pull him in. "You know," I said, lightly running my hands down his chest, "I wouldn't be upset if you kissed your mates. Saves my lips from being chapped all the time."

"Oi! There'll be no kissing me at the breakfast table!"

I looked over Riley's shoulder to see Matthew standing there with an impish grin on his face. I rolled my eyes and pulled Riley in for a quick peck before letting him go and taking a step back. He smiled at me and told me he'd see me later, as did Matthew, and as they were walking out of the common room, a thought occurred to me.

"Matthew!" I called. He turned and looked back at me. "Just the breakfast table, eh?"

He smirked but rolled his eyes at me and flipped me off, prompting Riley to hit him in the back of the head and say 'That's my girlfriend you're flipping off, mate!' I laughed and turned back to the boys' stairs, waiting for Albus to reappear, which he magically did about five seconds later.

"Ready?" he asked, and I had a strange flashback to the night before when Merisa had asked me the same question before we had entered the Masquerade Ball.

Although this time it was a question of was I ready to go eat so many waffles it would hurt to move. So, my answer wasn't the least bit questionable.

"As I'll ever be!"

**********

"You know, I don't think these are actually from Belgium."

"They aren't. They're from the kitchens."

"But then why are they called Belgian waffles?"

"Because they were invented in Belgium?"

"But you can't invent waffles. They were already invented!"

"No, the original waffle was probably already invented. The Belgian style wasn't at that time."

"But why would you want to improve on the waffle? I mean, Belgian waffles are probably the most amazing waffles ever created, but why in the world would you want to improve waffles? Huh? Why Albus?"

"What are you guys talking about?"

Albus and I looked up from out intense discussion/argument over Belgian waffles as Riley sat down beside me.

I pointed at Albus with my fork and scrunched up my nose. "We're talking about why Belgian waffles are called Belgian waffles if they don't come from Belgium," I said, taking his hand in mine.

Riley gave me a strange look. "It's because that style of waffle was invented in Belgium."

"Hah!" Albus cried, lifting his arms in the air in victory. "I told you!"

I rolled my eyes at him and told him to shove off, spearing more pieces of waffle with my fork and cramming them into my mouth.

"Sho Ri-ee," I mumbled, not bothering to swallow before I began to talk, but before I could continue, he cut me off.

"One, swallow your food before you talk. Honestly, I can't hear a word you're saying, and I much rather being able to understand you so I don't mess up and do something wrong," he said and I beamed at him. "Two, I actually can't stay. The reason I'm over here is to tell you that my mates and I are going to go on a tour of the Ministry today and tomorrow since we're all looking into work there. Totally forgot about it until Matthew reminded me. I know we were supposed to go to Hogsmeade together tomorrow, but can I have a rain check?"

I nodded, swallowing my waffle. "Of course! When are you leaving though?"

"Right now," he said, leaning forward and giving me a kiss. "See you later?" I nodded and he grinned. "By the way, invest in some syrup flavoured lip gloss," he said, licking his lips and wiggling his eyebrows.

I laughed and waved goodbye to him and Matthew as they walked out of the Great Hall. As soon as they were out of sight, I turned back to Albus.

"So, how did you like last night?" I asked, leaning forward and swiping a piece of bacon off his plate.

He looked at me as if that bacon was his first born child. "Hey!" I shrugged and he rolled his eyes at me. "Anyways, I had fun. You?"

I nodded, stealing another piece of his bacon much to his malcontent. "Yeah, but did you find it a little bit weird what some of the seventh years were talking to us about?"

Albus's eyes clouded over. "Did you get something this morning too?" he whispered.

I leapt forward and clamped my hand over his mouth. "Shh!" I whispered, my eyes darting around the almost empty Great Hall – it had changed dramatically since last night by the way. "They're watching us. Don't say anything about _anything_."

Albus gave me a funny look but nodded all the same. "Yes, that was a very interesting lesson we learned in our last Potions class! I did not know that we needed to stir potions. What a strange tiddly-bit of information!"

"What?" I asked, completely confused as to what that outburst was.

He leaned in closer and shifted his eyes around. "If they _are_ listening, we should talk about unimportant things."

I pulled away and gave him a look. "That is the best idea you've had in a while, yet one of the worst executions."

"What? We haven't died yet, have we?"

I shrugged. "Not yet. So what do you plan on doing after breakfast?"

"I should be working on my Transfiguration essay, but…"

"But you'd rather go out and practice Quidditch?" I finished for him.

He smiled and nodded. "You know me so well!"

"Well, that happens when you've known someone for over five years."

"It's been five years already? Wow. That's some time!" His goofy smile suddenly faded and he looked at me, concern in his eyes. "Do you think we'll still be best mates in a year?"

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. I've already lasted five years in the presence of you and your family. What's another year?"

He grinned. "Exactly! Now are you done breakfast, because I want to get to the pitch before someone else gets there first!"

"I'm still eating my bacon."

"That's _my_ bacon."

"Whatever, it's on my plate now, it's my bacon."

"Well hurry up!"

"Albus, stop tugging my arm! I'm not done eating!"

"You are the slowest eater ever."

"Do you want me to eat slower? I'll eat slower. See? I'm… eating… so… slowly… now – Hey! Albus! What do you think you're doing?"

"You were taking too long!"

"I'm not done eating my bacon you prat!"

**********

"You're a bloody numpty and you know it!" I said, laying my hand on Albus's arm and pushing him.

He laughed and grabbed his arm as if my touch was painful. "Oi! Watch it! You're bloody strong what with all those burly Quidditch muscles."

I rolled my eyes but my smile never disappeared. "Yeah, _I'm_ the one with the muscles Mr. Pecks."

"Have you been checking me out, Abby?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

I batted my eyes and sighed girlishly. "Oh why yes, Albus. I think you're ever so handsome and gorgeous and the only person in the entire world who looks better than you is me."

He laughed and I cracked up as well. As we walked towards the Gryffindor change rooms, Albus suddenly jogged forward and pulled the door open, holding it for me as I went past.

"Thanks," I said, giving him a curious look.

He rolled his eyes. "It's Random Act of Kindness Day. Thoughtful, aren't I?"

"The thoughtfulest!"

"Ha ha. At least I'm trying to be kind."

I snorted. "I'm kind!" Albus raised one of his eyebrows and gave me a pointed look. "What? I am super nice. Ask Rose!"

"Rose is your friend," Albus said, giving me another look.

I huffed. "Okay, so I'm not someone who is universally known as nice. Is that bad?"

Albus shook his head. "Oh, no! It's not as if people make friends by being nice or anything."

I pouted, staring up at him with my brown eyes. "But I have you. What other friends do I need?"

"That's true." Albus laughed and put his arm around me, but almost as soon as it rested against my shoulders he drew it back. "Wow! You _really_ need a shower, Abs."

I frowned and punched him. "That's because I've been sweating for two hours after you literally threw me over my shoulder and dragged me out to the Quidditch pitch where the only kits are the ones meant for practice, and those smell like shit. Not my fault I wasn't prepared."

"Yeah? Well wash off will you? It's distracting." His harsh words were offset by his easy smile and I couldn't help but smile back at him as he continued. "I think I'll have one too. You aren't the only one still in a smelly practice kit."

I rolled my eyes and made my way over to the showers, turning one on high to let steam build up in the linoleum room and grabbing two towels as I was at it. But before I could go back into the main dressing room, someone clamped their hand around my mouth and dragged me under the warm stream of water. I tried to scream but the hand was impossible to get around.

"Abby, it's just me," Albus muttered in my ear. "You said they're watching us, so they're probably listening too. What did you find this morning in your bedside drawer?"

I turned as he let me go and punched him, satisfied as I saw him wince. "Merlin, Albus! You scared the living daylights out of me! And I don't think we should be talking about this, especially considering we are getting the practice kits soaking."

Albus shrugged nonchalantly. "They'll dry off. Anyways, you got a letter from Puritas too?"

"You got a letter from Puritas?" I asked quietly, although the water that was hitting us from above made it hard to speak clearly.

"Yeah. Didn't you?"

I felt a strange feeling in my stomach as I contemplated lying and saying that yes, I had only gotten one letter and not elaborating on anything else. But then I remembered this was Albus.

"Yes, but I also got three others," I said, darting around in case the society police decided to burst in here and arrest me.

Albus gaped at me, stunned. " _Four_? There are _four_ societies." The realization dawned on him. "Abby, you got requests from _four_ societies? Good for you!" He grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug, although it wasn't like his normal ones considering those ones aren't usually soaking wet.

"But Albus," I said, pulling away from him, "what are the societies for?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. But Puritas said they would be getting in contact shortly. I assume once they do we'll know a little bit more about it."

"Yeah. Promise me you'll talk to me if you find anything out?" I asked, biting on my lower lip.

Albus nodded and smiled. "Not tell my best mate something? That's absurd. You'll be the first to know."

A smile broke out on my face and I hugged him. I suddenly felt guilty that I had hesitated to tell him in the first place. Albus really was my confidant. I should never be apprehensive to talk to him about anything. Well, maybe not some things that were best left for Melody, Kara, Deidra, and Wendy, as well as other girls. Although even then, Albus had a strange knack for those things.

I once saw him explaining to his cousin Hugo that, no, those little plastic-wrapped, cotton torpedoes Rose kept in her trunk were _not_ in fact torpedoes, and were definitely not meant to be thrown at teachers during class, or anyone else for that matter. Then again, he had shrieked a little when Hugo decided not to listen to him and chucked one at his face.

But as I looked at Albus through the stream of water – deciding to ignore the fact that he had dragged my away from my bacon this morning and then decided to drag me into a running shower with all my clothes on just to chat – I smiled and told myself that under no circumstances was I ever talking to him about girly problems, but I would definitely confide in him about the societies.


	3. Ducibus

I was in the library with the girls, all of us sitting at a round table as we did our homework. Melody, Deidra, and I had to work on a Potions assignment while Wendy and Kara were flipping their lids trying to finish a Transfiguration essay they both had forgotten to do. And yes, I had finished the essay early, although I'm pretty sure half of it was bullshit. Just as I was about to put the finishing slash though the 't' in the word 'Death' – the assignment was on the Draught of Living Death – Melody slammed her hands on the table.

"I can't do this! This makes absolutely no sense!" she cried as she stood up and began pacing. "Why is this so hard?"

I looked at her, my hand and quill poised over my parchment as she threw us all death glares. Kara looked over at me and I shrugged. How was I supposed to know what was eating Melody? But when Deidra looked over at me as well, I sighed and stood up.

"Come on, Melody. Let's find you a book that'll explain everything to you," I said, walking over and grabbing her arm.

She pouted and gave me her puppy-dog-face. "Can't you explain it to me, Abby?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

I laughed. "No, I have other work to finish. And stop batting your eyelashes. You look mental."

She stopped her puppy-dog-face and just pouted then, crossing her arms. "Fine. Let's find a book that isn't too difficult for an idiot to read."

"You're not an idiot, Mel. You're just being stubborn right now, so let's find you a book that'll make you understand so that you don't have to whine to me about how you don't understand Potions."

I guided her away from the table and down one of the aisles of bookshelves. Finding my way to the Potions section, Melody trailing behind, I let my fingers run over the spines of the books, searching for one that I had checked out last week when I was doing some extra reading on the subject.

"Aha!" I exclaimed as I finally found it. " _Potion-Making for the Sub-Par Potion Brewer_. I know the title is bad, but I already checked it out, so if it helped me, it's sure to help you." I turned but Melody was nowhere to be seen. "Melody? Mel, where are you? I have the book! Mel?"

I heard a clunk from the aisle over and assumed it was Melody who had dropped a book, which was actually a regular occurrence for her. As I walked around the back of the bookshelf, I stopped dead when I saw no one in the aisle, but a small book open on the ground. I slowly walked over to it and picked it, my heart racing at what I saw on the page it was open to.

Someone had written, " _Stay calm_ ," on a blank piece of parchment and stuck it in the book. A large curlicue 'D' was on the bottom of the parchment, but before I could do anything, I heard the muffled sound of someone casting a spell and before I knew it, I felt my body go rigid. I began to fall over slowly and then all of a sudden the ground was racing up to meet my face.

But before I hit the ground, large hands grabbed me by the waist and placed me upright. A person in a colourful mask like the ones some of the seventh years had on two nights ago at the Masquerade Ball walked around me so that I could properly see them.

"I'm sorry it has to happen this way," the person said. Their voice sounded funny as if it was passing through a bad telephone, but I was certain it was a boy because of the low timber. "I'm going to blindfold you now, and then I'm going to have to stun you. It's procedure. Just relax."

A dark piece of fabric suddenly covered my eyes and I tried to fidget but my body was still paralyzed.

"We have your friend too. Just so that you don't worry about her. Now, I'm going to stun you now. We'll talk soon," the boy said. " _Stupefy_."

* * *

My eyes fluttered open and I groaned, bringing my hand up to my eyes to shield them from the harsh light. Suddenly, all the memories of what had happened in the library came rushing back to me and I sat straight up, wincing as spots of light danced in my vision. Blinking my eyes a couple of times to adjust them, I looked around to see that I was in a room. The walls were bricks so I assumed that it was still in the castle. Of few others were waking up near me and I saw Melody open her blue eyes gradually.

"Mel!" I cried and crawled over to pull her into a hug. "What happened?"

She was shaking and I felt tears start to soak through my shirt. "I don't know," she blubbered, clutching me. "One moment I was behind you, waiting for you to grab the book, and the next someone grabbed me. I can't remember anything after that!"

She pulled away and wiped at her eyes. "What about you? What happened to you?"

I sighed and began playing with the ends of my hair. "I couldn't find you so I went over to the next aisle but then someone petrified me, put a blindfold over my eyes and then stunned me. Then I woke up here. Where _is_ here, anyways?"

Melody shrugged and I looked around again. Torches lined the walls, illuminating us and four other people: Maxim Doherty and Tanya Maynard, two Hufflepuffs, Carissa McIntosh, a Ravenclaw, and Lars Opiut, a Slytherin. Every one of us was sixth years. Suddenly, all the torches went out and a cold gust of wind passed over us. I quickly shuffled towards the others and I assumed they did the same as we all smashed together in a large group.

"That's my hand!"

"Sorry!"

"Get your arse out of my face!"

"Get your face out of my arse!"

"That is _not_ my hand and if you'd like to keep yours I suggest you taking it off my chest."

"Ew! There's something sticky on the floor!"

"Is that blood?"

"What's happening?"

We were all panicking and at one point I was fairly certain that Lars bumped foreheads with me and that Carissa began hiccoughing for no reason. But then a small flickering light could be seen and we all froze. It flared and I recognized the pulsating nature of fire. It illuminated a large green candle and a strange face behind it. No, not a face. A mask. Like the ones certain seventh years had been wearing at the Masquerade Ball as well as the boy who kidnapped me.

"Leadership qualities." The mouth of the face moved and a strange lilting voice threaded its way around the room.

Another fire was lit about a quarter of the way around the room from the first, illuminating the same mask and candle, although this one was blue.

"Wisdom," that person spoke, their voice deep yet strangely distorted.

Another candle was lit; this one red.

"Daring," the third masked person said.

I felt shivers down my spine as yet another candle was set alight – this one was yellow.

"Unafraid of toil."

I felt someone grab my hand and I squeezed hard as I felt my stomach drop. All four figures stepped forward with the candles, their shadows dancing ominously against the stone walls behind them.

"Ducibus," they chanted together as another masked figure stepped around one of them and into the circle they made.

This figure stepped towards us bowed slightly. A dark cloak covered their body and as I glanced at the figures holding the candles, I noticed that they were wearing cloaks as well, although their cloaks weren't nearly as discernible as the candles only illuminated their faces – or more accurately, their masks.

"Welcome to the Ducibus Initiation Commencement," the cloaked figure in the circle said. "My name is Pistol. My brethren and I wish to welcome you into our sacred circle."

"Welcome," the others chanted.

I suppose it was meant to seem mysterious and everything, but all I could think of was how this seemed a little bit sacrificial. And we were the ones about to be sacrificed.

"You six have demonstrated each of the qualities my fellow members have just stated, which, in our eyes, qualifies you to begin Ducibus initiation. Ducibus is, in all technicality, a secret society," Pistol continued. "We strive for greatness and we only accept those who prove themselves to be true leaders. Our members have gone on to be high profile ministry workers, heads of departments, and owners of great businesses. Here in Ducibus, you will not only make connections to last you a lifetime, but you will secure yourself in the role of leader."

I gulped as Pistol turned her gaze on me – I assumed it was a girl because although the voice sounded distorted, it was slightly feminine. Her eyes were harsh and dark.

"Ducibus is a proud community. To be requested for initiation is an honor seldom few receive. There are no questions regarding whether or not you be participating in the initiation," she continued, her voice suddenly becoming strangely joyful, "but there are when it comes to you finishing it.

"These initiations are not to be taken lightly. If you fail, you will be cut. If you talk about the initiations or any other subject regarding Ducibus with other students excluding the five others around you, you will be cut. If you behave in a manner unsuitable as a Ducibus representative, you will be cut. If there is anything that happens that we view as indicative that you are not suitable to be a Ducibus, you will be cut."

Pistol punctuated her last four sentences by stepping forward, away from the candles illuminating her face so that she resembled nothing but a large shadow. Her footsteps were harsh, further emphasizing the situation. "If you pass initiations," she said in a low voice, "you will be given the chance to join Ducibus. We do not hold grudges, so if you decide that this is not something you are interested in, you may opt to leave. But be forewarned: if you fail any of the initiations, even as an attempt to forego joining Ducibus, you will be viewed as weak in the eyes of others."

With that she looked right at me and I shivered. I knew what she was talking about. If I failed any of the initiations, the other three societies would be notified. And I ran the risk of getting cut from all of them. And this person, Pistol, she knew that I was not only requested for Ducibus. But I could feel her predatory gaze. She wanted me. _Ducibus_ wanted me. And I had no idea what I wanted.

"We will be in touch shortly," Pistol stated, grabbing the edges of her cloak with her hands, fanning it out so that she now looked much larger and intimidating.

Before any of us could say anything, Pistol swung around, her cloak swooping towards our heads. I ducked, as did the others. When I lifted my head, the room was pitch black. I felt the hand that had grabbed mine early squeeze again.

"What just happened?" Carissa said, her voice off to the right of me.

I turned to her, although I knew she couldn't see me, and took a shaky breath. "We were just given the opportunity of a lifetime."

* * *

It had taken us ten minutes to actually get out of the room Ducibus had held their Initiation Commencement night thing in. I had hit my head on Melody's head once, on a wall twice, had my legs fallen on by Maxim – honestly, that boy was such a klutz – and then had my head slammed into by a door when Lars had opened it without telling any of us he found it and I had been right in front of it.

Once we got out of the room, we realized it was an empty classroom down in the dungeons. Tanya had fixed my head out there in the corridor since it was gushing blood, and it turned out she was amazing at healing spells and had actually shadowed a Healer at St. Mungo's this past summer for no reason other than she found it interesting. It was only when she was putting her wand back in her pocket when something had clicked for me.

"Did we honestly just try and find the door in the dark when we all had our wands on us?" I had asked, looking at each of the other five in turn.

Lars had sworn rather loudly. "We better not tell Ducibus that or they'll cut us all."

We had all laughed and said our goodbyes, all of us making our ways to our respective common rooms. Once Melody and I had gone through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor Common Room, I had told her to go on up to our dormitory without me and that I might be up soon.

She had looked at me a little bit frightened. "Abby, remember not to talk about Ducibus with anyone but me, Maxim, Tanya, Carissa, or Lars. You could be cut."

"Yeah, I know," I had said, nodding solemnly. "I promise I won't."

Melody had smiled gratefully at me and made her way up the girls' staircase to see if Deidra, Kara, and Wendy were there to tell them we were okay, while I made my way up the boys', which is where I was now standing, my hand poised to open the sixth year boys' dormitory door. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and walked in, not in the least bit surprised to find Archer snoring in his bed, Timothy hanging from the top of his four-poster, Evan reading Quidditch Weekly, Jacob fixing his hair in their mirror, – probably for the seventh time in that hour, although why he did so before bed really confused me – and Albus lying on his bed with tiny song birds flapping around his head. Timothy, Evan, and Albus all turned to look at me while Jacob just stared at my reflection in the mirror and Archer continued snoring.

"Hey guys," I said brightly, walking over to Albus's bed.

I sat down next to him and he moved over so I could lie down beside him. The song birds slowly began drifting closer and closer to us until they disintegrated into gold dust that stuck in Albus's hair and clung to my mouth, leaving me to attempt to spit all of it out.

"Working ahead in Charms?" I asked, turning my head to look at him.

He nodded. "Owled my Aunt Hermione when I was having trouble. Her response came back about an hour ago. Finally mastered it a minute before you walked in."

"Cool," I said, reaching out and brushing some of the gold dust from out of his hair. "So, other than that amazing display of magic, is there anything you need to do right not?" He shook his head and I sighed gratefully. "Okay, because we need to talk."

Albus nodded and sat up. As I propped myself up on my elbows, he pulled his curtains and cast _Muffliato_. Then he turned to look at me expectantly. I sighed and flicked my ponytail behind my shoulders.

"I was contacted in a very strange way by one of the societies tonight," I told him, my mind replaying what had happened. "They kidnapped me from the library and brought me down to an empty classroom in the dungeon. There were five other people there but I'm not going to tell you who."

"Melody was one of them," he interjected and I frowned.

"How did you know that?" I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged. "Deidra came up and told us you two had to go for some emergency. Or at least that's what this seventh year told them. They have your school stuff back up in your dormitory by the way."

"Oh, thank Merlin!" I breathed, happy that even though I had forgotten about my school stuff in the library, my friends were nice enough to bring it back with them. "Well, yes, Melody was one of the five. Anyways, they were saying how this society was really prestigious and everything and how we have to go through initiation, even if we don't want to join them."

Albus frowned. "Well what does it matter if you don't want to join them?"

"That's the thing," I said, staring into his deep green eyes. "If I fail an initiation, even if it's on purpose, the other societies will hear about it and they might revoke their requests." Albus looked too shocked to speak so I just continued. "And, if I behave badly or in some way that misrepresents them, or if I talk to someone who isn't being initiated for it, I'll be cut as well."

"Wait," Albus interrupted, just as I was about to continue. "You mean you're risking your shot at a society just by talking to me about it?"

I nodded. "Well, I guess. But does it really matter?"

Albus closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose like he always did when he had a headache or was finding something hard to understand. "Abby, it would be stupid not to want to be in a society. I know we've only heard of them this year, but it just seems so important. I'm betting that entire Masquerade Ball was just a setup for the societies to scope us out."

I shrugged. "I guess so. So, anything happen to you today? Did you jump in the Black Lake, steal food from the kitchens, turn Archer's eyebrow hair pink?"

Albus smirked. "No, no, and no but that's a good idea. I just practiced outside with McKenna. She's a little bit stressed about being Captain immediately after James left."

I nodded, understanding. McKenna Denzel was a seventh year and was another chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team along with Albus. Since James had left to go play with the Tornadoes, he had left the Captain spot to McKenna. While I knew she would be an amazing captain, I understood how hard it must be for her to cope with it.

She would have to follow James Potter, Quidditch dictator extraordinaire, who had only ever let a House Cup slip from his fingers in his fifth year – his second year as captain, and yes he was that good of a player to become captain at fourteen – when he had two broken arms one game and still attempted to catch the snitch while the rest of the team had a grand total of seventeen broken bones. I had broken two broken ribs and my shoulder had been dislocated. That year had been brutal in terms of Slytherin cheating, and it hadn't helped that it was such a rainy day that Madame Hooch Junior, although if you ever called her Junior you were sure to get slapped with a broomstick, – just ask James – wasn't able to see a thing.

That game had landed us in second for the Cup and I'm pretty sure James would have self-imploded if his mother hadn't told him she'd make him sweets for a week if he didn't talk about it to anyone. Yes, James Potter was a hard act to follow. I could definitely see why McKenna was nervous.

"Well, you told her that she'd be fine, right? And that we'd help her?" I asked.

Albus nodded. "Of course. I mean, the only players she really has to coach are Lily and Marvin, and Lily's been on a broom since she was a baby. I'm surprised she never told us about wanting to be seeker until our trip to Diagon Alley this year."

"Well, she had a good reason," I stated, shivering as cold air rushed by me. "How could you tryout as a seeker for a Quidditch team when the Captain's already a seeker?"

Albus cocked his head and widened his eyes for a second. "Yeah, I guess so. And if anything goes wrong, we can always send her off to training with James right before a match."

I laughed. "You would subject your poor sister to that? I underestimated your heartlessness."

"Well, you know what they say," Albus said, his eyes glinting. "Don't trust the cute ones."

I giggled and yawned, my eyes dropping. "Merlin, I'm tired. Do you mind if I sleep in here with you tonight?"

"Nah. You need pajamas though?"

"Sure," I said, nicking one of his oversized shirts and a pair of his shorts from the foot of his bed.

Throwing open the curtains, I walked over to the boys' washroom, ruffling Jacob's hair as I passed him. I heard him whine in protest as I closed the door and got changed quickly. I kept my undergarments on but took off my jeans and shirt, folding them neatly. Then I brushed my teeth with the toothbrush I kept in there – I had stayed the night in Albus's dorm too many times not to, and before you say anything, nothing ever happened when I stayed the night and nothing ever would – and ran a brush through my hair, pulling it back up before I left. And no, the brush wasn't mine, it was Jacob's, the vain thing.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, Jacob shot me a dirty look and I stuck my tongue out at him in retaliation. As I walked back over to Albus's bed, I left my clothes on the top of his trunk and crawled under his covers with him. He wrapped his arms around me and I melted into his chest, smiling as I felt his fingers slowly draw circles on my back. Within minutes I was dead to the world, oblivious to Archer's snoring and Jacob's lamenting about how I ruined his hair.


	4. Captain McKenna

I was sitting in Potions class, trying to stay awake as Professor Mason droned on about this or that. I was just about to fall asleep when I felt someone poke my cheek. I lifted my head groggily and tried to pry my eyes open. Jacob was glaring at me, his finger poised near my face. I briefly wondered if I had willing sat beside him, considering he's not the best at Potions, when he began to speak, cutting off my interal debate.

"Why did you mess up my hair last night?" he growled, fixing me with a pointed stare.

I grumbled and turned so that my body was facing him. "Jacob, it's hair. You were fixing your hair so that you could go to bed. Get over it."

"Easy for you to say. You've been rocking the same hairstyle since fourth year," he sighed, looking at my ponytail quite judgingly if I say so myself.

"Key word there being rocking it," I said rolling my eyes. "Anyways, why are you so obsessed with your hair anyways? You should really go see someone about that. I don't think it's healthy."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes at me. We both went back to focusing our attention on Professor Mason (well, I was _trying_ to) and before I knew, we were let out of class. I was stumbling out of class when Melody grabbed my arm.

"Wow!" she said, trying to keep me balanced. "What's with you?"

"Tired," I yawned, leaning my head against her shoulder.

I never realized how soft and comfortable Melody's shoulders were. Like tiny pillows on a person. I sighed contentedly and tried to grab hold of her arm like I would a teddy bear, but then I was falling towards the ground. I thrust out my arms and caught myself before my face slammed against the hard ground, glaring at it for attempting to hurt me. I looked up at Melody and scowled.

"What was that for?" I demanded, feeling slightly pissed off. "I could have broken my nose!"

She smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. "Ah, but you didn't!"

I stuck my tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes. What was with people and rolling their eyes? I mean, I know that I did it often, but did I surround myself with people who did it as well? It had become more noticeable this year, the eye rolling I mean. Maybe I was rubbing off on them. I smiled at that, happy that I was influencing my friends with my little quirks.

"Earth to Abby. Abby, are you in there?" Deidra was waving a wand in front of my face.

I quickly snapped out of my reverie and focused on her. We were standing in front of the Transfiguration classroom, though I had no recollection of actually walking there. I realized they had asked me a question and I tried really hard to remember if I knew what it was, but I must have been so immersed in my mind that I couldn't remember a thing since we had left Potions.

"Sorry?" I asked, giving her a confused look.

The others groaned but all Deidra did was smile. "We're planning a Welcome Back event of our own, but just for sixth year Gryffindors," she said as we walked into Transfiguration. "Shall we say the boys' dormitory tonight? Archer promised he could get us a tiny bit of Firewhiskey, along with sweets from Honeydukes and Butterbeer."

We sat down next to each other at a desk and I shrugged. "I'm up for that. Exactly how much Firewhiskey is he bringing though?"

Deidra smirked. "Not enough for even one person to get drunk, don't worry. He said he wants to take the initiative and be responsible for once in his life."

I was taken aback and Deidra's obvious delight at the gobsmacked look on my face told me it had distorted into something less than attractive. Let me explain.

I've never gotten drunk, not once. Wendy and Kara haven't either. I mean, Kara and I have had alcohol, but we've never gotten pissed, which I couldn't say with much certainty when it came to Melody and Deidra. Melody's family hosted a lot of parties and I knew for a fact that when Jack, her muggle boyfriend over the summer holidays of fourth year, broke up with her, she had snuck into one of her mother's bashes and snatched a rather pricey bottle of champagne. While Melody's family was pureblood, they had a lot of muggle alcohol for some reason.

And I knew she had gotten drunk off it because the next day I had received a parcel in which the empty bottle was in, along with a note that said 'Jack broke up with me and I saw him kissing Arianna Russell. I'm sad and alone. Come comfort me.' Needless to say, she had a right wicked hangover and a broken heart when I got there. Deidra on the other hand was a bit of a party girl. She was actually quite tame compared to some of the muggle girls I heard outside my house at two in the morning, but she did like the buzz that Firewhiskey gave her.

Archer was like the Deidra of the boys' group, but multiplied tenfold. He had one wicked alcohol resistance and I had once seen him chug a flask during the middle of a seventh year party last year – which he hadn't been invited to until they saw how he could drink them all under the table without blinking an eye. Jacob, Albus, Timothy, and Evan had all had alcohol, I'm sure, but I don't think any of them had ever gotten drunk. So you see, the dynamic of our large group together meant that the person _least_ likely to be responsible with alcohol was now promising to be responsible. You can understand my surprise.

"What's that about?" I asked quietly, discretely looking over at the party animal in question.

Deidra smirked. "Well, a little birdy told me that Archer has his eyes on a pretty girl with skin like cocoa and a smile that could make fairies swoon."

I squealed and the boys looked over at us from their own desks, along with Kara, Melody and Wendy. I felt my cheeks go red as Albus gazed over at me.

"Girly stuff," I said, dismissing the matter with a wave of my hand. "Nothing you should be concerned with."

The boys grimaced except Albus and turned back to whatever they were doing. Al on the other hand, just continued staring at me. I shrugged at him and turned back to Deidra.

"So, let me get this straight," I said, my voice low so that no one else could hear me. "Kara likes Archer. Archer likes Kara. Neither of them knows about the other liking them, but we do. Archer is trying to show Kara he's responsible and a nice guy to get her attention. This is literally the cutest thing I've ever had the privilege to witness."

Deidra nodded quickly her smile wide. "I know! Isn't it just adorable? Imagine if they got together!"

I tried to discretely look over my shoulder to study my two friends, but it obviously wasn't as subtle as I wanted it considering Albus gave me a funny look. I smiled at him and saluted and he frowned.

"What is it?" he mouthed from his desk.

I shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about," I mouthed back and turned to the front of the classroom as Professor McGonagall walked in.

That was strange. Professor McGonagall was the Headmistress, not the Transfiguration professor. I knew she had been at one point – there's only so many times Albus's Uncle Ron can retell the story of him and Harry walking into Transfiguration class when they were little first years only to find a cat on the desk at the front who then transformed into Professor McGonagall – but I don't think she'd set foot in a classroom since I had come to Hogwarts. Well, I might be exaggerating. _I_ had never seen her set foot in a classroom since I had come to Hogwarts. I straightened up in my seat as her piercing gaze travelled over the class.

"Professor Dietrich is unfortunately ill today. I will be filling in for him until he gets better. I have heard that you have been studying the Bird-Conjuring Charm?" she said, her catlike eyes flitting from one student to the next.

I looked over at Deidra. "What do you want to bet that Professor Dietrich is hung over from the weekend?" I murmured.

"Yeah. Either that or he got hexed by McG when he tried to come onto her!" Deidra responded, laughing under her breath.

I snorted and giggled a little bit louder than I probably should have. But Mr. Dietrich's creepy obsessive love for Professor McGonagall was really funny.

"Miss Prescott and Miss Morrow, would you mind repeating what I just said to the class?"

I gulped as I turned to look at Professor McGonagall. Her gaze was hard and she fixed me with it. I suddenly felt very guilty that I had been talking in her class. I looked over at Deidra and saw her looking at McGonagall with the same guilty expression.

"I don't… I don't know…" I finally said, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Precisely what I thought," McGonagall said disappointedly. "Ten points from Gryffindor and if I catch you talking out of turn again you will find yourself with a detention.

I scowled and crossed my arms. Deidra just rolled her eyes and we spent the rest of the class listening to the technicalities about the charm before actually attempting it. My sad attempt was only intensified as I looked over and saw Albus lounging about, remembering that he had mastered the charm last night and thus could skive off doing any actual work.

"Bloody arse," I muttered glaring at him as he looked up and winked at me.

"Language, Miss Prescott. That's another five points!"

The rest of the Gryffindors in the class groaned and I rolled my eyes. "Sorry."

**********

"GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ARSE, ABBY!" McKenna screamed, swooping around on her broomstick to fly to the hoops where I was stationed. "How could you miss that shot? Huh? Tell me."

I felt my cheeks burn red and I glared at her. "Look, I'm not a machine! I'm going to miss some."

She scoffed. "There's no misses on my team, Prescott. ALBUS!"

Albus visibly winced from thirty feet away when McKenna screamed his name. He slowly made his way over to us, stopping and giving me a concerned look.

"McKenna," he said warily. "What's up?"

McKenna glared at him. "You will shoot on Abby for the next twenty minutes. No breaks, no stops."

With that she threw him the Quaffle she had been keeping under her arm. Albus grabbed it quickly and looked over at me.

"McKenna, twenty minutes is a long time for her not to have a break, not to mention I woouldn't be getting one either," he said, reaching out and touching her arm comfortingly. "Even James wouldn't have done that."

McKenna threw his hand off her and glared at him. "Well James isn't here anymore is here?" she spat out, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Twenty-five minutes. I'll switch you halfway through."

With that she flew off and I cursed under my breath. Albus looked at me and shrugged.

"Told you she was stressed," he said, turning his broom around and flying off a little bit before turning back around. "Anyways, why did you miss that shot? It was fairly easy. I should know, I was the one who threw it."

I shook my head and focused all my attention on the Quaffle as he began to fly forward. I saw his right eye twitch towards my left hoop and I positioned myself as he swung his arm back and then flung it forward, the Quaffle soaring out of his hand and towards the hoop. I quickly jumped in front of it and caught the damn thing before it could go into the hoop.

"I don't know why I missed it. I've just been distracted with this whole…" I looked around suspiciously." This whole _society_ thing." I lowered my voice on the word 'society' and other than the fact that Albus's left eyebrow twitched, I would've guessed he hadn't heard me.

I passed him the Quaffle as he raced by me and waited until he tried to send the Quaffle into another hoop before talking again.

"I'm just a little nervous. I don't know what to do. What if I fail one of the initiations?" I bit my lip.

Albus looked at me with his impossibly green eyes and I felt my stomach turn. He rolled his eyes and I threw the Quaffle at him which he almost dropped in surprise.

"Abster, you're amazing. I'm sure you'll do amazing during initiation," he said, smiling at me. "And you really don't have to be worried about anything yet. Just relax and play, okay? That might help you clear your mind."

I nodded and gave him a small smile. "Okay." I sighed and then looked back up at him devilishly. "Want to keep track of points?" I asked and he smiled too.

"What's the wager?" His eyebrow was raised and his smile turned into a smirk.

I pursed my lips before finding the perfect bet. "If I win, you carry me around Hogwarts on your back for a week. If I win, I have to clean your dormitory."

Albus smiled. "You're on."

**********

The sweat was running down my face and my breathing was laboured. I ran my hand from my forehead down to my neck, wiping some of the droplets away before more sprung up in their place. I had no idea how many minutes it had been since McKenna had ordered us to do this, but it felt like an hour. Not even in an actual Quidditch match would I get this much exercise. Neither would Albus.

Usually, I had the chasers zipping around with the Quaffle so the opposing team couldn't shoot on me, and Albus usually had two other chasers to work with, not to mention that we usually worked together so we really had to pull out everything we had just to try and keep the other from winning. But he was flying towards me, determination written on his face. I concentrated, watching him like a hawk. He brought his arm back and I observed everything.

His eyes were looking right at the left post, but I could see his body aimed at the right one. Impulsively, I threw myself at the right hoop only to watch in horror as he released the Quaffle and it began to sail towards the middle hoop. Time slowed. I barely registered McKenna flying over and telling us we could stop now, or that the rest of the team was behind her, watching in awe as I tried to get my hand between the Quaffle and the hoop.

I stretched, my muscles straining and my body demanding my broom to move faster. As the Quaffle slowly spun closer and closer to the hoop, I felt the tip of my gloved fingers touch the leather ball and its course shifted. Still trying to get a hold on it, I felt it pass by my hand and grunted in frustration as I tried my hardest to catch it. But it was too late for me to do anything but watch. It was spinning towards the ring, its rotations strange because of my contact with it. As it finally hit the hoop, it did a little bounce and hit it again, finally falling through the hoop.

"NO!" I shrieked, turning to Albus, a frown on my face. "No, please don't make me do it! I'll do anything else. Please, please, please!"

I was _not_ about to clean the boys' dormitory. The only reason I had said I would because I was so sure I was going to win. I knew all of Albus's tricks and his plays. The one he had just pulled was new.

But before he could respond, McKenna interrupted us.

"Okay, I have no idea what that's about, but I don't think I care. Albus," she said, pointing at the sweaty boy who was panting heavily on his broomstick (and no, that is not a euphemism), "go take a break. Grab some water or something."

He nodded gratefully and flew off, though considerably wobbly. The constant practicing had taken a toll on both of us. I gulped a few breaths of air down before McKenna turned to me, her gaze not blood curdling as I thought it was going to be, but sympathetic.

"Alright everyone," she called out to the rest of the team, not taking her eyes away from mine, "practice is over. Except for you, Abby. Stay here."

Lily gave me one last glance before flying down with the rest of them. I gulped but kept eye contact.

"Abby," she started, flying closer to me, "I'm sorry. I went overboard. It's just it's an insane amount of pressure. I mean, I'm coming in as captain right after James flipping Potter!"

I nodded. "I know. And… I understand… completely. Just please… don't make me do that… ever again."

She smiled and nodded. "I'll make that a promise. Let's go join the rest of the team."

We began to fly down together, my stomach turning and turning as we went. I felt like my dinner was going to make a reappearance.

"Abby," McKenna suddenly said, her voice soft and scared, "can I ask you a question?"

We touched down on the ground and my knees almost gave out on me, but I answered all the same. "You already did. But yes you can ask another one."

She smiled at me. "Do you think I'll be a good captain? Do you think I am a good captain?"

"Oh, well…" I stopped and looked over at her. She was biting her lip and apprehension danced in her eyes. "Yeah, I think you could be a great captain one day. You have one major fault though." Her face fell and I smirked. "Don't try and kill your team."

Her face lifted and she giggled. "Deal. Now let's get you into the showers. You look a mess."

I grimaced at her. "Wow, thanks. At least you haven't told me I smell like a pig's pen."

"Well there's that too."

"Hey!"

**********

I was in the shower, under the streaming water, letting it wash away all the sweat and grime I had accumulated during the madness that was our practice. I sighed as it pounded against my upper back. My muscles were all tense and knotted there.

Lathering up my hair with shampoo, I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, letting the water rinse away the bubbles. I ran my fingers through my thick mane of wet hair, marveling at how different hair feels when it's wet. It's really strange when you think about it. Or maybe that's just me…

But I was just about to grab my bottle of conditioner when the lights started flickering and strange footsteps could be heard in the main part of the changing rooms. No one was in here with me, I was sure of that. I had been so slow taking off my kit everyone had left by the time I had stepped into the shower. I had a brief flashback to when I had been kidnapped in the library when the lights flickered again. I sighed, getting annoyed with the shenanigans.

"Whoever that is, I'm in the shower right now. I'll be out in five minutes and I'll be dressed in fifteen, tops. Keep your trousers on." The lights had been flickering during my brief tirade but they stopped when I finished and I smiled. "Thank you very much!"

I finished washing my hair and quickly washed my body. As I passed the bar of soap over my legs, I cringed. I really needed to shave before I wore my skirt tomorrow. But that would be for another time since the person stalking me had been so nice and let me finish my shower instead of taking me out and bringing me to wherever in either a towel or my birthday suit.

Sticking my arm out and patting the wall for the hook my towel was on, I found it and brought it back to my shivering body, wrapping it around myself tightly and securing it. Walking barefoot over to the main dressing room, I rolled my eyes as I saw a figure in the corner holding a Gryffindor towel around its cloaked form as if trying to hide from me. That was definitely not what I had been expecting.

I grabbed my duffel bag and pulled out my after practice clothes – my comfiest bra and undies, sweatpants, a soft and baggy t-shirt, my trademark hair elastic, and a pair of fluffy red slippers (don't judge me, James had given everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch team a pair when they joined up and it was now a tradition). I made my way back into the shower area and shed my towel, using it to wrap up my hair instead.

Nothing was worse than having a dry body and wet hair, because then your clothes would get soaked and you'd be wet all over again, your attempts at drying yourself off futile. I quickly slipped on my clothes and then shook my hair out from the towel, bringing it up into a very think ponytail. Once I had it secured, I brought all of my stuff back into the main dressing room and stuffed it all in my locker. Then I turned to the towel-wearing cloaked person and crossed my arms.

"I'm going to sit on this bench. That'll make it easier for you to stun me, won't it?" The figure barely nodded and I sighed. "I'm closing my eyes now. Is that what you want? Secrecy because no one–"

I didn't have time to finish before I heard a muffled _Stupefy_ and everything went black.


	5. Luculentus

I woke up in yet another dark room. I groaned and rubbed my head, feeling a large goose egg on the right side of my forehead. Bloody cloaked figure in the dressing room, letting me fall off the bench and letting me get a goose egg. I sat up and looked around but it was so dark I couldn't see a thing. I sighed.

"Hello? Anyone there?" I whispered, reaching out into the darkness.

I heard a sharp intake of breath. "Abby?"

"Rose?" I reached out towards the voice and connected with something boney. "Is that your shoulder?"

"Yeah. I'm going to assume that's your hand?"

"Yeah. Where are we?" I asked.

I heard her sigh and move closer to me. "Don't know. Last thing I remember I was in a broom clos– I was doing something important in the library."

My eyes bugged out and I knew my face had gone into spasms. "Rose!" I whispered. "Were you in a broom cupboard with someone?"

Suddenly lights flickered on in four corners of the dark room. My eyes took a few moments to adjust to the light and when they did, I saw Rose in front of me, her red hair streaming over her shoulders, a smattering of freckles on her nose against her fair skin.

"We'll talk later," she mouthed at me as a noise was heard from one of the corners of the room.

A cloaked figure stepped into the light, but only so as to illuminate its tall frame. "Good evening," it said and I assumed it was a boy from its deep voice. "I would first like to welcome you into the inner sanctorum of Luculentus. My name is Revelation. You may be wondering why you are here. Luculentus is a secret society here at Hogwarts. You have been chosen because you all demonstrate qualities that Luculentus believes in." The voice sounded familiar, but also distorted. I racked my brain to try and figure out why that particular voice sounded familiar. "Intelligence," he said as he walked around us in a circle.

As he passed another cloacked figure previously hidden in shadows, they lit a blue candle. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Cleverness." This time it was a green candle. "Hard work." A yellow candle. "Nerve." A red one.

Revelation finally stopped his pacing and turned to completely face us. "We pride ourselves on being a society of people who go on to do great things. We have members in high profile jobs at the ministry. Several of our members are part of the Wizengamot." Revelation paused and took a step towards us. "There are seven of you. The average number of initiates that pass and become full-fledged members is five. Do the math."

I looked around. There were indeed seven of us. Rose, me, Scorpius Malfoy, a slytherin, two other Ravenclaws who were identical twin sisters named Tami and Sami Divert according to Rose, a single Hufflepuff named Valerie Wentz, and to my astonishment, Archer. He raised his eyebrows at me as we caught each other's gaze and I gave him a weak smile. He returned it.

"Initiation is not something to be taken lightly," Revelation continued. "The tasks may be dangerous, they may be demanding, they may be daring. But mess up once and you're cut. Do not speak of this to anyone else but the six other initiates you see around you. Do not act in a manner unsuitable for a Luculentus member to act. Do. Not. Mess. Up. If you do, there will be consequences."

With that, Revelation looked straight at me, his hood pulled back just enough for me to see the colourful mask underneath and, behind that, eyes I knew like my own. It all clicked. I realized why that voice was so familiar.

"We will be in touch shortly," Revelation continued. "But heed my warning well."

And then all at once, the other cloaked figures put out their candles and the torches on the wall were instantly put out as well. I flinched as darkness enveloped me again and reached out to grab Rose's hand.

"Rose?" I asked timidly.

"That's not Rose's hand," a gruff voice responded. "That's mine."

I felt blood rush up to my face and giggled nervously. "Sorry Scorpius. Okay, so does anyone have an idea of how to get out of here?" I asked, looking around, though that didn't accomplish anything seeing as it was too dark to see my hand in front of my face

Silence met my ears and I sighed. Judging from what Revelation had told us, this was supposed to be a group of intelligent people.

"Does anyone have a wand?" I volunteered, waiting for a reply.

I heard Archer's deep chuckle. "Of course. Why don't you?"

"I had Quidditch practice you numpty. Now cast some light."

"Oh, right. _Lumos_."

A bright light shot out of Archer's wand and I squinted as my eyes got used to it. Looking around the room, I spotted a shiny door handle off to the right of me.

"Over there!" Evidently the twins had seen it just as I had.

We all crawled over to the door and tumbled out into the dimly lit corridor.

"Well," Rose said, standing up and straightening her jumper, "that was strange. Did anyone else get the strangest feeling like they've been watching us for a while now?"

The others nodded and I sighed. "The Masquerade Ball. If you remember, every single person with a colourful mask on was strangely interested in the sixth years."

The others nodded again and I almost smacked myself in the forehead. You're smart! I wanted to scream. Act like it!

"So what do we do now?" asked Sami (or was it Tami?).

I shrugged. "Go back to our dormitories. Only thing to do."

"But when do we have out next meeting?" Valerie asked, her voice soft and musical.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know. They said they'd be in touch, leave it to them. Now, I'm going to get back to my dormitory because it's probably very late and I need to go to sleep. Archer, you coming?"

He grunted in agreement and he said goodbye to the others before setting off. The empty classroom had been on the third floor this time, so it was less of a walk which I was thankful for.

"You got a request then?" I asked, glancing at Archer out of the corner of my eye.

He looked at me strangely. "Well, yes. That's why I was there."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

He stiffened. "I don't know if I should be talking about it with you."

"Come on, Archer," I said, nudging him playfully.

He smirked and nudged me back. "Fine. I got one more but I'm saying which one. You?"

"Three."

"Three?" he exclaimed stopping at a dead halt. "You got three requests?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Three _other_ requests."

He looked absolutely gobsmacked. "Merlin's baggy trousers. Good for you!"

I felt my cheeks heat up and smiled at the ground. "Thanks! But you got two! That's nothing to scoff at!"

He laughed. "Yeah. Guess not. Can you believe it though? In a matter of days we go from lowly sixth years to initiates of a secret society? And they said they had members in the Wizengamot! Do you know how prestigious that is?"

"Yeah, I do," I chuckled. "But careful with that enthusiasm. Slip up in front of someone and they might actually think you're smart."

"Oh, har dee har har," he deadpanned, stating the password for the common room to the Fat Lady and holding the door open for me. "I think that meeting just proved how smart I actually am."

I laughed and walked into the Common Room. "I concede. You are the brightest light bulb of the bunch! "

"Thank you," he said, grinning. "Okay, I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early for bacon!"

As I watched him go up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, I sat down in one of the armchairs. Once I was satisfied that Archer had completely left, I settled myself in and waited, staring at the portrait hole. Sure enough, after a lengthy 698 seconds (and yes, I counted), someone burst into the common room. Well, more accurately, _two_ someones.

Riley and some seventh year girl with large green eyes and blonde hair that shimmered like gold stepped into the common room. I thought the girl's name was Brenda but I could've been wrong. They were laughing and when Riley saw me in the armchair, arms crossed and a murderous glare on my face, he stopped dead.

"Becca, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he said.

Becca! That was her name! But I didn't really do anything with that extra information seeing as I was still glaring daggers as Riley. Becca walked away and up to her dormitory and Riley walked over to me.

"Where were you?" I quipped in an angry voice, trying to keep from laughing at his horror stricken face. "I needed to talk to you about something important and I find you gallivanting around the castle late at night with another girl?"

I urged myself to bring tears to my eyes but it didn't work. Damn unreliable tear ducts! Although Riley looked like he was going to cry, so at least it was doing something.

"I thought I was a good girlfriend. I thought you liked me," I whined, finally feeling my eyes dampen. "Is it because I'm too young? Too inexperienced?"

Riley looked extremely uncomfortable and opened and closed his mouth like a fish before finally speaking up. "No, it's nothing like that. Abby, it was nothing. Nothing happened between us. I swear!"

I suddenly felt my tears overflowing and let them fall down my cheeks. "Riley, if you wanted to end it with me you should have just said so instead of letting me find out like this!"

"No, Abby! Please," he cried, getting on his knees in front of the armchair. "It wasn't what it looked like. Nothing happened! I don't want to end it with you."

I felt the corners of my mouth fighting to turn up and I decided enough was enough. "It's just, you should have given me a _revelation_ of some sort before doing this to me."

Riley's face went slack and he stared at me for a couple of second before I burst out into laughter. He put his head down and pressed it against one of the armrests of the chair.

"Shit," he muttered, letting go of my hands and running them through his hair. "How did you figure it out?"

I giggled, unable to contain any of the emotions I had been feeling during my charade. "Your hood pulled back a little bit at one point and I saw your eyes. Plus, your voice wasn't distorted enough for me not to recognize it. I'm your girlfriend after all!"

Riley lifted his head and I was glad to see that he was grinning too. "I knew you were too smart for your own good!"

I laughed and placed my hands on either side of his face. "Isn't that why you chose me?" I teased, kissing him.

He smiled against my lips and threaded one hand onto the back of neck, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. I let my hands run through his hair and pulled him closer to me, loving the warmth his body radiated.

"Well this seems cozy."

We broke apart and I saw Albus standing on the boys' staircase. I smiled at and took Riley's hand.

"Albus! What are you doing here?" I asked a little breathlessly.

He smirked and I felt butterflies in my stomach, but it had nothing to do with the boy whose hand I was holding. "Archer told me you came back. Just wanted to check and make sure you were okay."

I smirked and looked back at Riley. "Completely okay. I was just…" I looked back at him, careful not to let anything slip about Luculentus because Riley was right there. "Doing something important."

I looked back at Albus and he nodded, a glint in his eyes telling me he knew exactly what had happened. And that he wouldn't press it in front of Riley. I looked from Riley to Albus and fidgeted in the awkward silence.

"Well," I said, standing up and smiling at both boys, "I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow!" Riley and Albus both said, staring at each other awkwardly.

The tension was scary. I just stood there, frozen for a few minutes. The common room was completely silent as the two boys just stared at each other, some kind of testosterone seeping into the cracks in the wall and making the situation weird. I began fidgeting and finally just gave them thumbs up and cringed internally.

Thumbs up? Really? But before I could silently yell at myself for giving them thumbs up (really, what was wrong with me?), I turned and swiftly made my way up the girls' staircase and up to my dormitory. As soon as my foot crossed the door frame, I slammed it shut and stumbled over to my bed. Falling over onto it, I felt my eyes close and sighed. I had no idea what had just happened between Riley and Albus, but it was strange. I would have to ask Albus about it tomorrow when we talked about the Luculentus meeting. Snuggling into my pillow, I felt my breathing slow and everything went fuzzy as I surrendered to my dreams.

**********

"ABBY!"

I sat up straight in my bed and glanced around frantically, throwing off my bed sheets and racing to find my uniform.

"How late did I sleep in?" I asked, trying to flatten my hair and throw it up into a ponytail as fast as possible. "Do I have time for breakfast? Do I smell fine or should I take a quick shower? Do we – why aren't you guys up and ready for class?"

Deidra was still in bed, her eyes blinking slowly as if she'd just woken up, Kara was still fixing her makeup, her uniform shirt still on the floor, Wendy was reading in her bed, her hair already wet from her early morning shower, and Melody was sitting on the bed beside me – her bed – a towel wrapped around her and her face lit up.

"Abby, you're not late, I just woke you up because we need to talk," Melody said, smirking at me from her perch on her bed.

I paused, my skirt halfway up my legs and my butt in the air. I turned to face her, glaring.

"What?" I asked, my voice dangerously low. "You mean to tell me you woke me up for no reason whatsoever, just to talk?"

She nodded, grinning like a banshee (not that banshees actually grin all that often, but you get my point). "When Wendy came back from her run, she told us that Timothy told her that Albus told him that you had come back to the common room with Riley late last night."

I felt myself blush. "It's not what it seems."

"Really? Because it seems like you and Riley were up late last night, together, and somewhere in the castle," Kara said from her spot in front of the mirror.

"No! I was just out late and then when I came back, he was just there, and… we haven't done anything!"

Deidra smiled and giggled from her bed. "We don't actually believe you did anything than your normal make out sessions," she said sleepily as she got out of bed.

"Well than why did you wake me up?"

Wendy shrugged from her bed. "They wanted to freak you out early in the morning."

I glared at her. "Why did you even bring it up to them?" I groaned at her as she rolled her brown eyes.

She shrugged but I saw a small devilish smirk on her face. I glared at her and turned back to Melody who was now less than unclothed and actually had her uniform on. I stuck my tongue out at her back but I caught Kara's eye in the mirror. She raised an eyebrow and grinned at me. I stuck my tongue out at her next.

"I swear, I'm going to get you back for this," I said, resuming the madness that was putting on my skirt.

"Yeah, yeah. Save it for someone who cares."

My friends are bints.

**********

"Hey Al!" I said, sliding onto the bench next to him.

He looked up at me but didn't smile like he normally did. Instead, he turned back to his food, only giving me a nod. I frowned, disgruntled. Albus never really ignored me unless I had done something wrong. Had I done something in the past 24 hours to piss him off? Other than disappear after Quidditch practice and then make-out with my boyfriend, I had been around him all day yesterday and he had seemed perfectly normal then.

I just rolled my eyes and chalked it up to him being tired. Looking across the table, I caught Timothy's eye. He just ignored me and looked down at his breakfast as well. I frowned again and looked over at Archer. Same reaction. I glanced curiously at Kara but she just shrugged.

"Al, what's up?" I asked, nudging him with my shoulder.

He gave me a scathing look. "Nothing."

"Wow, who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?"

He just kept glaring at me. "I'm not eating cornflakes, I'm having eggs."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," he grunted, pushing his plate away and standing up from the table. "I'm going to class. See you later."

With that he walked out of the Great Hall without a backwards glance. Evan glared at me and then did the same, although he didn't say a word. Within the next ten seconds, Timothy, Archer, and Jacob had also left, glaring at me on the way out. I turned to my girls, giving them a confused look.

"What was that about?" I asked, gesturing to where Jacob, the last of those who left, was walking out of the Great Hall.

Deidra shrugged. "What did you do last night after your practice. Or, more importantly, who did you do?"

She smirked but I blew her off with a flick of my wrist. "You know nothing like that happened. And seriously, why are they all mad at me?"

Wendy shrugged. "Was Albus mad at you yesterday?"

"No. In fact, we were completely fine yesterday. It's just today that he's acting like a complete numpty."

Melody gave me a sympathetic look. "No idea. You know how boys are. Complicated."

I sighed as I caught Riley's eye from down the table. He smiled at me and winked, and I felt butterflies in my stomach.

"I guess. I'm just glad I've found one who isn't."

**********

I was just coming out of the girls' bathroom when a mess of scrubby black hair zipped across my view. I narrowed my eyes. I knew that mop of hair anywhere. Following the boy it was attached to, I saw him turn down a rather unused corridor and disappear from view. I sighed angrily and jogged to keep up with him. Once I reached him, I grabbed the back of his shirt and spun him around, shoving him up against the wall.

"Albus Severus Potter, something is wrong with you and I'm not going to let you get away until you tell me what it is!"

He looked shocked, his eyes wide behind his glasses and his mouth half open. We stayed there for a minute in silence, him in a state of opening and closing his mouth like a fish without actually making any noise, before I finally rolled my eyes and continued my angry ranting.

"Albus, you best tell me what's deranging you before I owl your mother and then your brother."

That shook him out of his stupor.

"Sorry, it's just. I can't talk about it," he said, glancing around nervously.

I scoffed. "I'm your best mate. We tell each other everything."

"Well," Albus said, shrugging and sticking his hand sin his pockets, "that's the problem. Sometimes, best mates need secrets. Can you drop it?"

I flinched, taken aback by his response. "Fine." I turned, but just as I was about to walk away, I spun back around and placed my hand on his chest, stopping him dead. "Just so you know, another one of those secret societies had a meeting last night. It's why I was back so late. I was going to tell you about it, since you're so interested, but I guess best mates need secrets."

I turned, my ponytail flipping violently behind me as I heard Albus call my name. I didn't turn around. If that's the way he was going to act, then I was fine with that. I stormed down random corridors, not caring where I ended up.

Just as I was passing a broom cupboard on what I assumed to be the second floor, the door opened and none other than Rose Weasley spilled out. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair looked a little mussed up, but other than that she didn't seem to have been shagging in a broom cupboard. As she straightened her top and looked up, her gaze caught mine.

"Oh shit!" she said, running a hand through her curly red mane. "What are you doing here?"

I gave her a funny look. "I live in this castle, remember? And I could ask you the same question!"

Her cheeks flushed red, a deep contrast from the smattering of freckles across them and the bridge of her nose. Just as the broom cupboard door opened again, she quickly slammed it shut and pressed her back to it, effectively trapping her snog buddy inside. Her hazel eyes flashed and she looked around nervously, quite like Albus had done not a few moments earlier.

"Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded.

I nodded sincerely. "I won't, I promise. As long as you promise to tell me who is trapped in the cupboard." I pointed to the door she was barricading with her body and was delighted to see her blush even more furiously.

"Not right now," she said, biting her lip. "Maybe when I start to figure out some… stuff. Anyways, walk with me."

She grabbed my arm and I obliged, walking away from the broom cupboard where her mystery man stood, cowering in the darkness. And yes, I may have peeked behind my shoulder in case he jumped out, but I was sadly disappointed.

"So how are you?" Rose said conversationally. "Haven't seen you since last night."

The mention of the Luculentus meeting was implied as she surreptitiously gave me a wink out of the corner of her eye. I groaned dejectedly and leaned into her.

"Your bloody cousin is getting on my nerves," I said, frowning at the recollection of our awkward encounter.  
Rose smiled. "Which one?"

"Albus, who else could it be?"

"I don't know," Rose said, shrugging. "James?"

I sighed and flicked my hair back behind my shoulder. "James is out of Hogwarts. Why would I still talk to him?"

Rose shrugged. "You two always seemed close. I thought for sure that when you and Riley broke up last year that something between you and James would crop up."

I grimaced. "Something between me and the Quidditch captain from hell? No thank you."

"It was just a hunch," Rose said, shrugging. "I'm no Trelawney."

I giggled at this. Professor Trelawney was apparently some type of seer, although the only time she had predicted something right in my presence, was when she said I would one day find myself in a relationship with a tall dark stranger. Make note that this was two months into mine and Riley's relationship…

And although Albus and Rose's parents insisted that she was legitimately a seer, we honestly couldn't believe that since all we saw was a crazy old lady who liked to wear large glasses and burn incense that smelled like cat piss up in the astronomy tower.

"No, you definitely are not. Me and James? Never in a million years!" I laughed again. "Anyways, do you know what's wrong with Albus?"

Rose gave me a strange look. "You don't? I thought you and Albus told each other everything."

"I thought we did," I said sadly, staring at the ground as we walked around aimlessly. "But apparently he thinks 'best mates need secrets.' Have you ever heard anything so stupid?"

Rose shook her head, a perplexed expression on her face. "That's strange. I'll try to talk to him, okay? In the meantime, I need to go. Charms starts in five minutes and I can't be late again. If I am, Natalia might rummage through my bag. Bye!"

I said goodbye to her and waved as she turned a corner and walked away. Groaning, I turned in a circle, extremely confused about Albus and whether or not I really wanted to go to Transfiguration. In the end, I decided to ditch and go up to the roof of the castle. That's what I usually did when I skipped class. While I was crazily afraid of heights, the roof was somehow relaxing when I was stressed or when I just needed some time to myself. Although, for some reason, Albus usually found me and I wasn't actually alone most of the time I was up there.

So I climbed up to the Gryffindor tower, but before going into the portrait hole, I kept walking and opened the second door to the left of it. A small staircase winded its way up in front of me and I smiled as the smell of fresh air washed over me. I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and threw open the door to the roof. I felt my stomach turn as I saw the drop from the roof to the ground below it, but ambled my way over to the chimney stack I usually sat against. Leaning against it, I sighed and looked over at the Black Lake. It was beautiful at this time. Bright and sparkling and just magical. I saw a ripple at the center of it and smiled as I caught a glimpse of a blue tail.

James had once told Albus and I that he had seen a mermaid in the Black Lake, but we hadn't believed him until he had brought us out in the middle of the day and we had hidden behind some trees. Apparently they liked to come out and just play around the surface of the water while all the students were in class so that no one would disturb them. I smiled wider at the memory but it quickly faded when I remembered who I had shared it with…

Albus. Who was mad at me for reasons unbeknownst to anyone except possibly his dorm mates. Merlin, if he didn't tell me what was eating him, and soon, I was going to go mad! I sighed again and leaned my head back against the chimney stack, reveling in the silence. But just as I was about to close my eyes, I heard the telltale creak of a shingle straining against a person's weight. I shot up like a rocket and looked around.

"Hello?" I asked frightfully. "Who's there?"

I took one step forward and another before repeating myself. There was no answer. I turned to sit back down when I collided with something extremely solid and not at all the air I was planning to run into. Hands grabbed my arms as I stared into a black bag over someone's face. I was pushed back and landed on my butt, sliding and rolling down the roof. I screamed as I tried to stop myself but it was too late. I fell off the side of the roof and plummeted towards the ground below.


	6. Transfiguration Studying

A.N.: Hey guys! For those of you who read the last chapter, I had to add a few things to help with the flow of the chapters, so you should probably reread the last one. Thanks!

**********

I screamed, terrified as the ground below came racing towards me. Closing my eyes and bracing myself for the impact that would end it all, I was extremely surprised to find myself hovering in the air. My screams died down and I opened my eyes, taken aback as I saw that my nose was only a few inches away from the ground. Suddenly, I was let go from the hovering position and I fell flat onto my face. I groaned, turning over and spitting dirt out of my mouth.

"Well that was eventful."

I sat up, turning towards the unfamiliar voice. A boy with caramel skin, dark hair, and surprisingly blue eyes stared at me from where he was leaning against a tree. A broomstick lay not three feet away from him and he had his wand outstretched, panting.

"Who are you?" I asked angrily, standing up and dusting the dirt off my uniform.

The boy smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly not know?"

I looked over his face again, noticing the slight tilt of his mouth, the angular cuts of his face. "Weasley! You're a Weasley! Wait… Fred?"

He smiled and spun his wand around before taking a little bow. "At your service. It's nice to see you, Abby. How long has it been exactly? Five years?"

I nodded, backtracking in my head. "I think. You always spend Christmas with your mum's parents since…"

I trailed off, feeling my cheeks redden as I realized what I was going to say. Fred didn't seem shaken by it, and even seemed to understand exactly what I meant.

"Since my dad's falling out with the Weasley clan has made family events rather awkward?" he finished for me. I nodded and he continued. "Just a smidgeon. After the First Christmas Holiday Debacle of 2014, it had always been kind of strained. Just took the Second Christmas Holiday Debacle of 2016 to really cut us off."

I nodded, wincing at the memory. It had been my first year spending the holidays with the Potters. My parents had to fly over to France because my grandmother, Mémère, had broken her hip. I wasn't supposed to go because all they were there for was to file paperwork and then help her move into a smaller house with no stairs or anything that could aggravate her condition. They thought an eleven year old couldn't help them so I was prepared to stay at Hogwarts.

When Albus found out he had owled his mum and they offered to let me stay over the holidays. My parents were overjoyed that I wouldn't be spending Christmas alone and agreed wholeheartedly. On Christmas Eve, Albus's parents had brought us to his grandparents' house where the rest of his relatives were. After a fight between his uncles, George and Percy, Albus had ushered me upstairs into one of the guest bedrooms where all the other children were. I remember James had looked like he had swallowed a lemon and a small little boy with caramel skin, dark hair, and startling blue eyes looked like he was going to cry.

That had been Fred. When we heard something shatter from downstairs and a yell for Fred and his younger sister Roxanne, the both of them hurried off and left us there in stunned silence. After that, everyone had gone home and I had gone back with the Potters. Christmas wasn't very fun that year. The next Christmas, Albus had begged me to stay at his house again and promised that there would be no fighting. I finally agreed after a full week of him pestering and had been glad. Christmas with the Potters was fun. But I had never forgotten about that first Christmas and the little boy who left with his sister to never return.

Okay, that might be a little bit exaggerated. He never returned for Christmas. The September after the Second Christmas Holiday Debacle, as Fred so eloquently put it, he had come to Hogwarts and had been sorted into Ravenclaw. I had never really talked to him, or even acknowledged him. I'm pretty sure the rest of the Weasley/Potter clan had tried to make an effort, but the strangeness of it all had left him almost forgotten.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked again, staring at him suspiciously.

He shrugged. "Didn't want to go to Potions. I was practicing on the Quidditch pitch when I saw you fall. I knew Albus would kill me if I let his gir – uh… best mate die. So I raced over her and caught you in the nick of time."

I smiled at him. "Well, thanks. You did save my life," I said gratefully.

"Not a problem. One question though. Why did you need saving?"

I felt ice run through my veins as I remembered what had happened. How the hands had grabbed me as I stared into the black mask; how the push had put me off balance and sent me tumbling towards the edge; how the air whipping against my skin as I fell felt like a hundred fire ants biting me. But as I looked at this boy in front of me, I decided not to scare him with that.

"I was just on the roof. It's my relaxation place. I guess I slipped or something, but the next thing I knew the ground was racing towards me."

He nodded but kept a suspicious gaze trained on me. "Okay then. Just promise me you won't go slipping off more roofs. I don't want to have to catch you again."

He smirked and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Duly noted. Now, I should probably get back to the castle and let you get back to practice. Thank you again though, for saving my life," I said, beaming at him.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the ground bashfully. "It's no trouble, really. I'm just glad you're alright. Although, you should probably go see Madame Pomfrey, just in case."

"Yeah, I will. Bye, Fred!"

"Bye, Abby!"

I turned and walked back towards the castle, my mind racing. Who would have wanted to push me off a roof? And of those people, who would actually do it? I had no idea.

**********

"Albus, I know you aren't talking to me, but I need your help. Something… strange just happened," I said, sitting down beside him in Potions.

He turned to me and smiled sheepishly. "About that. I–"

"I don't really care. Anyways, I was up on the roof, and I kind of fell."

"Fell?"

I blushed and lowered my voice. "More like, was pushed."

Albus's eyes bugged out and he grabbed me, looking over me as if searching for damage. As he grabbed my face and turned my head one way and then the other, his concerned eyes attempting to find some kind of difference, I felt my cheeks redden. His hands were so soft against my cheeks.

"Al, it's nothing. Fred saved me. I'm just a little shaken, that's all," I said quietly, aware that while we were sitting at one of the back tables, if anyone turned around they would see us at such close proximity.

Not that we hadn't been this close to each other before, but I was feeling butterflies in my stomach and his face so close to mine was not helping my attempts to not kiss Albus because I fancied the pants off him. Well not really. Albus's pants stayed on him at all times. Which was good. Because I was dating Riley.

I hate my emotions…

"Who would do that?" Albus asked furiously, not bothering  
to take his hands off my face.

I shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that I was on the roof, and then I wasn't. I'm just glad Fred was there."

"Wait. Fred? As in my Ravenclaw cousin?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He flew over from the Quidditch pitch and caught me just in time."

Albus looked taken aback. "He caught you? Isn't he a scrawny little git?"

"Albus," I chided him, frowning, "he's your cousin. You should be nicer. And no, he didn't actually catch me, he cast some spell and I stopped inches before the ground. I'm bloody lucky he was there."

Albus shrugged. "It's not my fault Uncle George wants nothing to do with the family. I'm just honoring his wishes."

"He saved my life. The least you could do is be nice."

"Fine," Albus said, pouting like a child and crossing his arms. "I'm glad he saved your bloody life. Happy?"

I smiled. "Very. Now, onto the real problem. I still haven't told you about my… meeting last night and you still haven't told me what your problem is."

Albus blushed. "Can we talk about this later?"

I frowned. "Fine. But only because we have to start our assignment."

**********

"So Riley's a society leader?" Albus said, not bothering to look up from his Charms textbook.

We were in the library, sitting in one of the least used aisles – books about astronomy. Seriously, who had ever expressed honest to Merlin interest in astronomy? No one I ever knew. Anyways, we were sitting against a shelf, my legs draped over his. He had insisted that if we were in the library, he was going to work on Charms, and I insisted that I would work on Transfiguration. The only difference was that Albus was actually working on Charms and I had abandoned all pretenses about studying for Transfiguration about a half hour beforehand. I had told him everything about the night before and Luculentus.

He wasn't as intrigued about it so much as excited about the Puritas meeting. Since the Ducibus and Luculentus meetings had been one night after the next, he thought the Puritas initiation would start either that night, or the one after it. I was personally hoping for that night since he was so focused on going to an initiation meeting himself instead of listening to me retell what had happened. I could see it was weighing heavily on him. Having lived his life in the shadow of his parents and older brother, I realized that all Albus wanted was to be exceptional. To be thought of as his own person. And here I was, his best mate, and I was already upstaging him.

"Yeah, Riley's a society leader. A pretty good one at that. Gave me shivers, he did." I smiled as I remembered his presentation of the night before.

Albus rolled his eyes and nudged me. "Are you sure that didn't happen in the common room?"

"Albus!" I giggled, shoving him lightly. "I am not that type of girl."

He smirked and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. My breath hitched in my throat but I forced myself to stay calm.

"What kind of girl, Abby? The girl who almost shags her boyfriend in the common room, or who does and doesn't tell her best mate about it?"

I shoved him again and pursed my lips. "You know that would never happen."

"I know," he said, threading his arm around my shoulders. "You're much too sensible."

I pulled back, confused as to what he meant. "I'm too sensible?"

"Well, yeah. You aren't going to make things serious until you're absolutely sure it's a committed relationship, and the both of you are ready, not only for the act, but the consequences of it."

I smiled and leaned against him. "You know me so well."

He kissed the top of my head and I felt shivers run down my spine. "Five years of being by your side, I better hope I know you well."

**********

I woke up with a start, glancing around to try and figure out where I was. I relaxed when I saw the familiar Gryffindor drapes and the telltale photograph of the Potters.

"You fell asleep in the library," Albus said, and I jumped.

I looked over to see him perched on Timothy's bed. His hair was sticking up everywhere again and his glasses were crooked, but his eyes shone brightly and I felt my heart beat falter slightly when he smiled. Damn my unrequited feelings!

"You carried me here then?" I asked sleepily, turning over and shoving my face into the pillow. "Couldn't you have left me in the Common Room?"

Albus smiled and walked over to sit beside me on his bed. "Some first years were playing exploding snap and at least three girls already had sparks catch their hair on fire, not to mention Jacob's masterpiece which basically flared up under all that product."

I snickered at the thought of Jacob's coveted mane of hair on fire. If I assumed correctly, he was probably in the Hospital Wing for shock and depression than any actual burns.

"So what's happened since I fell unconscious," I asked, snuggling into his blankets.

Albus's covers always smelled so nice. Like boy but fresh, like he had just had a shower before crawling into it the night before. Which was actually pretty true. Unless we had practice in the morning, or he had no time at night, Albus took his showers before bed because Jacob hogged the bathroom in the morning. Seriously, that boy took more time doing his hair than Deidra took on her entire person. And Deidra took a long time to get ready.

Albus began stroking my hair, although that proved to be difficult since it was still tied up, and I closed my eyes, feeling more relaxed than I had in ages.

"Well, Kara and Archer got in a fight for some unknown reason." I swore but told him to continue. "Jacob went to the Hospital Wing with Timothy to treat his burns and depression. He was bald at one point, but Madame Pomfrey fixed him up before he went postal. Other than that, Riley was up here to see if you wanted to just hang out, but when I told him that you were asleep, he said he'd come back later."

I nodded sleepily and stuck my hand out, reaching for Albus. When I finally found his face, I moved my hand to pat his hair.

"Thank you, Albie," I yawned. "You're a good friend."

He took my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. "I'm the best! If you want to go to sleep again, you can, but seeing as your sleeping patterns will be messed up, I really don't think you should."

I groaned and turned over so I could look up at him. "What time is it?"

He chuckled and glanced down at his wrist watch. "Close to nine. You've been asleep for a few hours now."

I huffed and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "You couldn't have woken me up earlier?"

"Be honest here, Abster. Would you really have let me wake you up?"

I frowned. "No, I wouldn't have," I said glumly.

"Exactly!" Albus said, grinning. "Now wake up because I know for a fact you have that Transfiguration quiz tomorrow and you haven't studied whatsoever."

I groaned and fell back against the bed, my head wedged inside the soft pillow. I closed my eyes and felt my breathing slow down again, my head getting fuzzy as I began to slowly fall asleep.

"ABBY!"

I shot up, my heart pounding. "I'm up, I'm up!"

**********

I was frowning at my Transfiguration textbook, the words on it swirling before me. I couldn't grasp the concept and the studying Albus had me do wasn't helping. I almost felt as though I was forgetting parts of it as I went. I groaned and began hitting my head against the book when a pair of hands covered my eyes, essentially blocking the book from hitting my skull. I put the book down in my lap and grabbed the wrists of the person covering my eyes. Taking their hands off me, I looked back to see Riley, a smile across his face.

"Riley!" I cried, jumping up and hugging him. "How are you?"

He held me tightly and sighed. "I'm okay. Haven't seen you all day. How are you holding up?"

I pulled back and smiled. "Better now. I've been trying to work on Transfiguration, but it's just not clicking."

"Do you need help?" he asked, putting a hand on my cheek and stroking it lightly.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly as his eyes bore into mine. "Yeah, that would be good."

He smiled and sat down on the armchair I had just stood up from. I rolled my eyes but grinned at him and sat down on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. I kissed him lightly but it soon turned into something heated until Albus coughed from his perch on the couch opposite us. I pulled away from Riley and gave Albus a sheepish smile.

"How is this supposed to help me?" I asked, turning back to Riley. "If you keep distracting me, I'll never get to studying!"

He smirked and grabbed one of my hands. "Every answer you get right I'll reward you. Sound okay?"

I felt my cheeks redden but I nodded. Riley smiled and grabbed the textbook from the ground where I had dropped it, albeit a little awkwardly since I was still on his lap. Passing it to me so that I could open it to the right page, he looked over at Albus.

"Why isn't Al helping you?" he asked, playing with my fingers.

I shrugged. "He's working on Charms I think. And he's trying to get me to do my own work. Something about how he won't have time to help me study next year because of N.E.W.T.s, so he's trying to train me to do it myself now."

"That makes sense," Riley said, chuckling.

I elbowed him in the side. "Oi! You're my boyfriend, you're on my side!"

"Not this time, Abby."

I pouted. "Fine. Let's just get this Transfiguration crap over with."

Riley smiled and tapped my cheek like he would a child and I very nearly slugged him. But I didn't, so he turned his attention on the textbook and began his questions.

"What is the point of human Transfiguration?" he asked, looking at me pointedly.

I bit my lip, trying to remember what I had been reading. "Um… to transfigure humans?"

Riley rolled his eyes. "'To essentially replicate the natural abilities of Metamorphmagi, allowing the practitioner or the subject to take on entirely different form or make various individual changes to their appearance, such as growing or changing the colour of one's hair or taking on individual animal body parts.' That's what A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration says, word for word."**

"Well, I don't want to know what the point is word for word, I want to understand it," I said glumly. "What's the point of me knowing the textbook definition if I can't say that human Transfiguration is a way to transfigure humans in an attempt to replicate Metamorphmagus abilities like changing certain body parts in shape, size or colour?"

Riley stared at me, his mouth open. "Abby… You just answered the question."

"I did?" I thought back to what I had just said when realization struck. "I answered the question… I answered the question!" I hugged Riley and felt his arms wrap around me too. "I do understand this shit!"

I laughed and pulled away from, then leaned in again and kissed him. His hands slowly made their way to my waist and mine slid into his hair, grasping at the little curls there in an attempt to bring him closer to me. His grasp was tight, but in a way that made my heart race instead of hurting me. I heard someone clear their throat and I broke away from Riley, blushing slightly.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Albus said, rolling his eyes at us.

I turned back to Riley and blushed even harder, laughing a little as he waggled his eyebrows at me. "Shut up," I whispered, punching him lightly. "We made him uncomfortable. I feel bad. He's supposed to be studying and we're being disgustingly affectionate."

Riley shut me up by kissing me – which I was okay with. When he pulled back, he smiled and picked up the textbook again.

"You got your first reward. Shall we continue?" he asked, twirling a strand of my hair with his fingers.

I laughed and punched him again. "Yes. It's already almost ten, and I need to get to bed soon. Help me study, don't distract me."

He laughed and asked me another question which I answered with some difficulty. We stayed like that for a good twenty minutes as all the other Gryffindors went off to their dormitories. It ended up being just Riley and me and then a fifth year who was literally sweating over his Charms textbook. When the fifth year finally slammed his textbook shut in frustration and stormed up to his dormitory, I realized that Albus hadn't come back.

"Riley, do you mind trying to find Albus?" I asked. "He's been gone a while and I'm getting scared."

He smiled and kissed me on the nose. "Sure. But you do know that means you'll have to get off me."

I rolled my eyes and pouted. "Damn. You're a fine cushion."

He laughed and kissed the top of my head. "And you're just fine."

I punched him again – I do that a lot – but smiled and stood up. He got off the armchair and hugged me.

"You going to stay here and study a little more?" he asked and I nodded in response. "Then I'll say goodnight when I come back with Albus, shall I?"

I smiled and kissed him once more. "You better be back soon."

He promised me that he would and then left the Common Room. I sat back down on the armchair and grabbed the textbook. After about a minute, I decided that studying alone was decidedly less fun then it was with Riley. I closed the book and shoved it in my bag, throwing the piece of parchment I had taken out in case as well. Just as I was about to head up to my dormitory, a noise from behind me made me turn around. I had a brief flashback to the roof and the push that sent me over the edge and stumbled backwards, pulling out my wand.

"Whoever's there, I will hex you," I said as menacingly as I could considering my voice was shaking. "Come out here now. NOW!"

I heard another noise from behind me again and I turned, brandishing my wand into the air, pointing at nothing. I felt a shiver run down my spine and I felt my heart rate speed up. My breathing was heavy and the hand that was holding my wand was shaking. Suddenly, I felt my body go stiff and I fell backwards, the view of the Gryffindor Common Room ceiling the only thing I could see. No, not the only thing. A hooded figure was standing behind my hand, looking down at me.

Oh shit…

**********  
A.N.: The line with the * at the end of it isn't mine, it was taken from the HP wiki page about the Transfiguration book in question: A Guide To Advanced Transfiguration.


	7. Puritas

My wrists were tied onto the arms of a wooden chair and my legs were tied to its legs. A cloth bag was over my head and as I began to hyperventilate. I tried to move but because of the ropes on my ankles and wrists, I couldn't do anything. I began to whine, struggling against my bonds. As I realized that my attempts were futile, I began to scream and struggle even more.

"Abby," someone whispered from my left and I froze, my mouth still open but my scream silent. "Abby, it's Albus. Shut up."

"Albus?" I hissed. "What the hell? Why did it take you so long to go the bloody bathroom?"

I heard him sigh in frustration. "Abby, we've both been kidnapped. Where they hell do you think I was?"

I felt stupid as realization washed over me. "Oh, right. Is there anyone else here with us?"

"Scorpius Malfoy, at your service," I heard from right beside me.

"Hey, Malfoy," I said conversationally. "So did you get kidnapped and tied to a chair? _Against your will_ , I might add." I said that last part a little bit louder than I should have, in case the society members could hear us.

I heard him snort. "You could say that. Although, this isn't actually new to me."

"Oh yeah," I whispered, leaning closer to him. " _Luculentus_ ," I hissed, so low I didn't know if he could hear me. "So what are you doing here, Malfoy. Enjoying the lovely view of a _bag_?"

Just as I said that, the bag was ripped off my head and I squinted as a bright light was shone into my eyes. As I slowly started getting used to the light, it was taken away from my face and my eyes had to adjust to the sudden darkness. As I blinked a few times, I saw that Albus was on my left, Malfoy was on my right, three other Slytherins were on his right, and a Ravenclaw boy I think was named McCray was to Albus's left.

Unlike the other initiation nights (because I assumed that's what that was), we were all tied to chairs in a straight line, and it wasn't dark. Six people in cloaks were in front of us, four of them holding black candles. One of the ones without a candle stepped forward and took their hood off. Shiny brown hair spilled out, framing a truly gorgeous face. Her sharp brown eyes were rimmed in perfect makeup and her lips were sinfully red. I suddenly felt very jealous and I had no idea why. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Hello, initiates," she said, her voice beautiful as well. "My name is Diamond Parkinson, and I would like to welcome you to Puritas. We are a very _selective_ society. We pride ourselves on having members that come from powerful families. But family connections are not what we strive for. Our members grow up to become extremely influential in the Wizarding World and the connections you make in Puritas last a lifetime. To become a member of Puritas is to become one of the greatest of your generation."

The four figures with candles stepped forward at that moment yet the last figure stayed where they were. I kept my gaze trained on that one until Diamond's musical voice interrupted my thinking and I concentrated on her again. She now had a flame on the end of her wand and was poised in front of the first candle that she now lit.

"Cunning." She walked over to the next candle and lit that one as well. "Traditionalism. Ambition," she said as she lit the third black candle. She walked over to the last and lit that one as well. " _Power_. Initiation starts soon. Be ready for a challenge, because if you do anything but your best, or if your best doesn't cut it," – she looked right at me and her smile turned into a sneer, – "you don't belong here."

I glared at her as she turned her gaze to Albus. She winked at him and I suddenly had the urge to slap her.

"Puritas is the only society that you will ever need. We will be in touch soon."

With that, all the lights went out and I heard a menacing laugh from the darkness. I thought back to the hooded figure who hadn't done anything and felt an overwhelming sensation of suspicion. Who was that figure? Were they a member? They didn't seem to be a part of the actual ceremony. But before I could ponder too much, I felt my chair get pulled forward and my breath hitched in my throat. I was just about to scream when a gloved hand was slapped against my mouth and a pair of lips feathered the edge of my left ear.

"My sister thinks you're going to be a good asset to this society," a woman's voice hissed in a tone so low I wondered if I might have imagined it. But as something sharp and cold pressed itself to my neck and I felt a sting, I realized this was extremely serious. "I know different. You're not an asset, Abigail Prescott. You're a liability, and you're expendable. You best stay in line and keep this quiet, or the next time you fall off a roof, no one will be there to save you."

What I had assumed to be a knife against my neck was taken away. I breathed a sigh of relief before hands grasped my wrists and the handle of the knife was pressed into the back of my hand.

"I'm going to cut you out of your ropes now. Let's hope I don't hit anything important," the woman whispered menacingly.

I began to cry and was about to scream when the thwack of the knife hitting the chair reverberated around the room. I felt my heart stop and tears rushed down my face.

"You've been warned, Abigail Prescott," the woman hissed again. "And with me, there aren't three strikes. You fuck up once and you're gone."

I closed my eyes and felt the ropes around my right wrist slowly fall away. My face was soaked with tears and I hiccoughed as I tried to regain my breathing. The roof incident and this were not a joke. I was in serious trouble and this woman had made it clear that if I talked to anyone about this, she wasn't about to let me off with just a warning. I had a bad feeling that a minor mistake might cost me an organ while a serious one would cost me my life.

As I slowly brought my shaking hand up to my neck, I flinched as my fingers touched something sticky and a shot of pain raced through my neck. The knife had broken through the skin. My breathing became laboured and I patted around the right arm of the chair for the knife. As I finally found the handle, I let out a sigh of relief and tried to pull it out of the wood of the chair. It wouldn't budge and felt my heart drop.

Crying, I desperately yanked at it and in a matter of seconds, it was out. I began to hack furiously at the bindings on my left wrist and breathed a sigh of relief when they were cut. I let myself relax in the chair and compose myself before attempting to cut the ropes at my ankles. Those took considerably longer because of the angle and the fact that I couldn't see a thing. I nicked myself twice in the process, but didn't stop until I was free. It was at that moment that I heard the others talking.

"–in my dorm," someone said, though I wasn't sure who.

"So, no one has a wand?" That was definitely Scorpius, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. "You're saying none of us have a way to get out of this bowl of crap?"

"I… I have something," I blubbered, wiping at my cheeks with the hand that wasn't desperately clutching the knife. "There was a… a knife. I've cut myself out, so who's next?"

Malfoy snorted and I glared his way through my tears. "Do you even know how to use a knife to cut someone one out of ropes?"

"Well…"

"Cut me out first. I'll get the others," he said.

I stood up out of the chair and stumbled towards where I thought he was. "Malfoy, where are you?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"Right here," his silky smooth voice said, inches to my left.

I jumped and shrieked a little bit. I heard him chuckle and resisted the urge to yell at him. Talking more would only advertise the fact that I was crying, and I really didn't want the others to know. I reached towards his voice and my hand came in contact with something hard and then squishy.

"That's my face, and that's your thumb in my eyeball," Malfoy said, chuckling under his breath.

I winced and brought my hand down to his arm, running down it to find the rope. "Sorry," I said, finally reaching the bonds.

I brought the knife to the underside of the chair's arm and began sawing at the rope there, trying extremely hard not to nick Malfoy with it. When the rope finally gave way, I sighed and then laughed shakily.

"Shall I take the knife from you?" Malfoy said quietly. "You don't seem like you're in very good condition, especially to be holding a knife."

I nodded and then realized he couldn't see me in the dark. "Okay, yeah. Where's your hand?"

I brought the hand that wasn't holding the knife up to the chair arm and found his warm palm. But before I could hand him the knife, he grasped my hand and squeezed.

"Are you okay?" he whispered in a low enough tone that the others couldn't hear.

I took my hand out of his and replaced it with the knife handle. "No." With that I stood up and backed away a little bit. "Albus?" I called out.

"Over here."

I smiled at the sound of his voice and stumbled my way over to where I thought he was. Every once in a while he would say something and I would answer, to see where the other one was. The other in the room were having whispered conversations as well, and I caught snippets of them, but not enough to actually understand what they were talking about, or enough to actually interest me. When I finally reached Albus, I rammed my shin in the chair and swore.

"Are you okay?" Albus asked.

I laughed shakily. "Yeah. I'm fine."

I heard Scorpius scoff from a few feet away, along with the sawing of the knife against rope. I could practically see his smirk, and felt an overwhelming need to slap him. Fortunately for him, I couldn't see anything in the pitch black. So instead, I sat down and leaned against Albus's chair, grabbing his hand to try and keep myself on earth instead of falling over the edge into a world of dreams, not unlike how I fell – or rather, was pushed – off the roof.

I had to stay awake. With my luck, Riley had gotten back to the Common Room and freaked out when I wasn't there. He had probably organized a giant scale search party and had already looked behind every painting in the castle, looking for me. Of course, the fact that he would do that wasn't the problem. More like the fact that when I got back, everyone would see me with tear tracks down my face and blood on my neck and legs.

That would start a bloody avalanche of rumours. As I sat there, I felt comforted as Albus started slowly rubbing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I thought about how Riley had held my hand like that beforehand when we were studying, and how it would feel if it had been Albus rewarding me with kisses instead of Riley.

 _No!_ I screamed at myself in my head. _You are dating Riley, and anyways, Albus would never like you. He sees you as a sister. Or worse, a brother_.

"Albus, you need to be cut out, yeah?" Scorpius said, interrupting the silence and my brain's attempt at scolding me.

I felt Albus shift in his chair. "Yeah. Just be careful. Abby's at my side."

I heard Scorpius snort again. I honestly wanted to shove tissues at him and tell him to clear his sinuses. That snorting thing was one of the most annoying things I had ever heard. Suddenly, I felt cold fingers caress my one and take my hand out of Albus's.

"Sorry, Abby," I heard Scorpius chuckle. "I need to cut this rope and having your arm in the way will only complicate things."

I brought my arm back to my chest and hugged myself. "No problem, Malfoy. Just do it quick."

And so he did. Within a minute Albus was free from his bonds and he kneeled down on the floor next to me. I felt him grab my arms and pull me into a hug. I held onto him for dear life as I felt my eyes start watering again and tears race down my cheeks to land on his shirt. I felt kind of bad, honestly. Albus was now going to have a giant tear stain on his shirt.

Albus pushed me back, but kept his hands on my shoulders. "Abby, are you okay?" he whispered. "And answer me honestly."

I shook my head, and then realizing he couldn't see me, I choked out a laugh. "No, I'm not. I need to get back to the Common Room."

"Okay, let's get you back then," he said, standing up and pulling me with him. "Does anyone know where the door out of here is?" he asked the others.

One of the Slytherins answered from our left. "I think it was directly behind us," she said. "I couldn't see it when the lights were on, so that's where I assume it would be."

Albus thanked her and dragged me along as he looked for the back wall. He searched for about a minute before the Ravenclaw boy shouted out that he had found it. Albus pulled me close and walked with me to where the boy had shouted from as the door suddenly opened and light rushed into the room. I turned to see Scorpius cutting the last rope on one of the other Slytherins. We the other two were a few feet behind us and I quickly looked away to hide the fact that I was bawling like a baby.

"Come on," Albus said, ushering me out of the room. "Let's get you back to the Common Room."

**********

We had just stepped through the portrait hole when we were attacked. And by attacked, I mean Riley came flying at us and began fawning over me when he saw the blood and tears.

"Abby! What's wrong?" Then he turned to Albus. "I'm going to kill you Potter. What the fuck did you do to her?"

"I didn't–"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Riley roared, looking scary than I had ever seen him.

He grabbed Albus by the collar of his shirt and shoved him against a wall, his arm pulled back in a fist. Albus looked both startled and conflicted, as if he wanted to retaliate, but scared for me as he glanced over at me.

"Riley!" I shrieked, grabbing his arm and pulling it back to try and make sure he wouldn't hit Albus. "Riley, it wasn't him! Riley, let him go!"

I was back to crying and felt disgusted with myself as tears ran down my cheeks again. I was going to be severely dehydrated if I kept this up and I hated crying in the first place. I forced myself to take a breath in an attempt to stop my eyes from tearing up again. It didn't really work… But now Riley was looking at me, though his one hand was still fisted around Albus's collar, and he didn't look ready to let go anytime soon.

"Riley," I said as calmly as I could. "Let. Him. Go."

He released Albus and I breathed a sigh of relief. I stepped over to Albus and hugged him, apologizing in his ear as I did so. Then, I turned to Riley.

"Albus is my best mate. He would _never_ hurt me. Why the bloody hell would you think that? Are you mental?" I rambled, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

I was now so livid that the awkward and unwanted crying was stopped. I glared at Riley as his expression slowly changed from murderous to confused. Albus attempted to put himself between Riley and I as Riley stepped towards me, but I wasn't about to let him.

"I'm sorry," Riley said, looking at me instead of Albus. "I'm sorry, I… I don't know what came over me. I just…" He trailed off and fixed me with a sad stare.

I took a deep breath and looked from Albus to Riley. "It's okay. Just… don't ever do that again."

"I promise I won't," he said glumly. "I was just worried about you. Then when you came in like that, I just…"

Albus finished for him as he trailed off. "You assumed the worst."

Riley nodded and finally looked over at my best mate. "I'm sorry. I really am."

I saw Albus shrug out of the corner of my eye. "I understand. As long as you don't do that again we'll be fine."

A smile of relief settled over Riley's face and I was so happy that Albus forgave him. I couldn't imagine anything worse than Riley and Albus fighting over something as petty as this. Well, I guess it wasn't that petty. And I guess that woman who threatened me actually going through with her threats and hurting me might be worse. But I was happy.

"I'm going to go to bed now," I said, giving the both of them a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

They both said goodnight and I left for my dormitory. As I walked up the girls' staircase, I saw a little note wedged in a crack in the wall. I looked around curiously but it was so late at night that I didn't see or hear anyone. I grabbed the note and opened it. Reading it, I felt my knees go weak and my stomach turn as I reread the note a dozen times before finally racing up to my dormitory, the two sentences running through my brain even after I threw the note out of an open window.

" _I'm always watching. You've been warned._ " 


End file.
